Recently, the Karnataka High Court ordered the removal of illegal church occupations in Chikkaballapur in Karnataka. A mammoth-size cross and the statue was illegally placed on government-owned pasture land, also known as gomala, to facilitate encroachment. The operation was executed by Assistant Commissioner Raghunandan, Tehsildar Tulasi under the watch of Superintendent of Police (Chikkaballapur) Mithun Kumar.
But, these are not the first instance where churches encroach Government owned lands and misuse it for proselytization purposes. Here, we bring out how lands to the tune of several hectares have been encroached upon by the Church in two states.
Instances of Church-sponsored land encroachment in Karnataka
Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA) entered into an arrangement with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), a Karnataka government undertaking, for transfer of the title of a defence land measuring about 7,427 square metres.
The above said land was earlier leased to the All Saints’ Church. The BMRCL acquired the land through the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board. The BMRCL has acquired land across Bengaluru for its next stage of the city’s Metro project and the land is question is part of the new line. The land which the Church claims as its own is adjacent to the military compound that houses a military school and its training facilities.
An ED probe revealed that the title of the land belonged to the Defence Ministry and it was only leased out to the All Saints’ Church for conducting religious affairs. No proprietary right of the land had been transferred. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth ₹59.52 crore of the Church of South India Trust Association (CSITA) in connection with a money laundering case. The movable assets are in the form of fixed deposits maintained with the State Bank of India’s Sudhamanagar branch in Bengaluru.
These are just tip of the iceberg. Churches in South India with active patronage of politicians, Christian organizations are involved in propping up churches in government owned lands, hills etc. The modus operandi is the same – first, it will start with planting illegal crosses and bringing in Christian believers for Sunday masses and after a few months they will start building churches and will acquire entire ownership of lands without any paperwork. Due to fear of backlash by Christian voters political parties will not even raise an issue on encroachments.
In 2016, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office had begun probing into the financial irregularities at the Church of South India after individual audits found discrepancies in the books of the Church of South India Trust Association in Chennai. The Registrar of Companies (RoC), through an inspection audit in 2015 and a series of income-tax audits since 2010, found the institution was not providing a clear picture of its accounts and not maintaining a list of properties which had mandated a SIFO investigation.
In the year 2016 Christian community members of 46 churches of Chikkamagaluru diocese had accused Bishop Anthony Swamy and Father Shantharaj of being involved in irregularities regarding lands pertaining to St. Joseph Education Society and have demanded a probe against them.
Community leader Stanly D’Silva said, “The diocese owns an agricultural land at Baskal. It is a multi crop estate. In 2016, the administration of the diocese cultivated pepper and sold it. There is a huge amount of change in price which denotes that the bishop and his close aides have made money by selling the produce for higher prices. When lay leaders tried to seek clarification on it, Bishop Anthony Swamy and Fr Shantharaj are not ready to give a convincing answer.”
Secondly, without permission of the governing council, the bishop has reportedly transferred the land of St Joseph Education Society to his name and made six sites and sold them to private parties. A donor donated this land to the diocese for the construction of a school for poor children in 1984. But now, the bishop has become the owner of this land and with forged documents and signatures. The bishop also sold another 20 guntas land which was donated by an individual for the construction of hostel. The current value of this land is ₹18 crore. But the bishop says that he sold it for ₹2.10 crore. Any layman would sense that there is a scam in this deal and that the bishop has received a bigger amount under a secret agreement. We suspect that there is a scam in this deal and the bishop has received a bigger amount under a secret agreement.
“Apart from this, the bishop and his close aides are ruling the diocese as autocrats. There are no rights for community members and lay leaders to express their opinions. The bishop himself is taking all decisions and does not listen to anyone. If this continues the same way, it will pave way for a riot within the community,” Stanly was quoted saying in the media.
The Maharashtra government’s law and judiciary department prepared report dated back in 2009 with respect to Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA) Pvt Ltd in which it noted that it was a “bogus trust” whose “bogus trustees” indulged in many illegal activities to grab the properties of genuine Christian trusts. Report also lists questionable property sale and lease deals in Mumbai, Pune, Hubli (Karnataka) and Gujarat,
The above inquiry acknowledges a series of reports by DNA and Zee News in September-October, 2008, highlighting the skullduggery. Thousands of acres of prime land across the country, managed by more than 200 trusts and associations of the Church of North India, have been put on the block, raising concerns among ordinary church-goers. According to some legal experts, these lands actually belong to the government and its agencies, including the Defense Ministry, and the trusts are merely custodians of the properties.
Hindu Welfare Forum in the month of March 2020,filed a complaint to district administration about encroaching of 70 acres of Government land by St. Lawrence Church in Attur, Karnataka. They also alleged that the land is now being used for illegal trade of timber wood. The complaint also alleges public road has been destroyed and illegally erection of barb wires around the hill.
Church acknowledges encroachment in Kerala
In a 2019 press release , the church acknowledged the land scam in Kerala . “The land scam related to the archdiocese has deeply hurt the church in the past two years. The crisis had become grave as the allegations were against the head and Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church. The synod has understood that there have been lapses in collective responsibility in the land deals,”.
A recent study by the Malabar Devaswom Department in Kerala has revealed that the largest encroachment of Devaswom land took place in Malabar region (The Hindu, September 24, 2008). According to official figures, more than 24,900 acres of land belonging to 353 temples under the Malabar Devaswom Board has been encroached upon (The Hindu, April 5, 2010).
Official records show that 245 temples under the Kochi Devaswom Board have also lost land to encroachment, but the extent of land lost has not yet been fully calculated. Around 3,000 acres owned by the Travancore Devaswom Board has been encroached, as admitted by the president of Travancore Devaswom (Times of India, January 5, 2016).
Madhav Gadgil, who headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, says that irresponsible environmental policy is to blame for the current floods and landslides in Kerala. He called it a “manmade calamity” (The Economic Times, August 17, 2018). The south west monsoon floods which have currently devastated Kerala are an outcome of the land encroachment of Ecologically Sensitive Zones in Western Ghats by Syro-Malabar Catholic Church intimidating and unleashing armed violence against environmental committees and reports, using vote bank and money power.
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where the influence of Church is even more higher have encroached temple lands and government lands.
It is high time governments of the day work effectively in unearthing all the scams associated with land appropriation by Churches and recover the land.