Anti-corruption activists in the Church of South India won a legal victory before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court last week, after the sale of a 31 acre parcel of land sold in 2008 by the former Bishop in Madurai Ramad, the Rt. Rev. Christopher Asir, was voided on 11 Jan 2024.
In 1912 the Imperial government granted a 31-acre plot of land to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The terms of the grant were the property and its income could only be used to support an “industrial home” for needy women.
Following the formation of the Church of South India in 1948 control of the property passed to the Church of South India Trust Association and then to the diocese of Madurai Ramnad. In 2008, the BIshop in Madurai Ramnad, the Rt. Rev. A. Christopher Asir and ten confederates sold the parcel to property developers, but allegedly pocketed $1.400,000 of the proceeds.
Corruption charges were brought by the District Revenue Collector of Madurai charging the bishop with being part of a criminal ring that defrauded the diocese. The bishop died in February 2012 before he could be indicted.
After the death of Bishop Asir, the case fell into abeyance until 2022 when a lay activist petitioned the government to recover the property, alleging the sale to commercial developers, who built a three hundred unit commercial/apartment complex on the site, did not fulfill the terms of the government’s grant of the land.
At a hearing last week, attorneys for the Indian government reported that it had confiscated the land from the commercial developers as the 2008 transfer violated the 1912 trust agreement.
