The Bishop in South Kerela, the Rt. Rev. A. Dharmaraj Rasalam will be the new moderator of the Church of South India.
Meeting from 11-14 Jan 2020 in Tiruchirappalli in India’s Tamil Nadu state Bishop Rasalam was unanimously elected by the Bishops Council as Moderator or primate of the church for the 2020-2023 triennium.
The Rt Rev K. Reuben Mark, Bishop in Karimnagar Diocese was elected Deputy Moderator. As of our going to press the elections for General Secretary and Treasurer have yet to be held.
Pundits predict the two lay positions will go to candidates from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as the moderator hails from Kerala and the deputy moderator from Andhra — preserving the geographic balance of the leadership of the church. The approximately 400 delegates representing the church’s 24 dioceses voted to affirm the episcopal elections, and will directly elect the two lay positions.
Bishop Rasalam faces criminal investigation by the Tamil Nadu police for allegedly selling admission places in a church run medical school. The Hindu newspaper reported on 22 Aug 2019 the Admission Supervisory Committee for Medical Education asked the state to bring charges against Bishop Rasalam and officials of the Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College, Karakonam, for selling places to aspiring medical students. The investigation was launched after 24 students brought charges that they had been promised a place in the medical school after paying upwards of ₹6 million (approximately $84,000) for a place in the MBBS, BDS or MD programs.
