The Maharashtra inquiry report on the multi-crore church land scam has advised the government to direct the charity commissioner in Mumbai to take criminal action against all those involved. Submitted to the government in April, 2009, the report indicts the Bombay Diocesan Trust Association (BDTA) Pvt Ltd for illegal land grab activities in many places in Maharashtra such as Mumbai, Pune, Satara, Ahmednagar, Panchgani and Kolhapur.
The land belonged to BDTA Ltd (Public Trust Registration No E-923) and The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in the Dioceses of Bombay (SPG, Public Trust Registration No. E-828). The charity commissioner’s role in enabling the fraud has also come under scrutiny.
The scam, which was reported first by DNA on September 23, 2008, was probed by VR Patil, legal advisor-cum-joint secretary of the Maharashtra government’s law and judiciary department. His report has recommended that criminal action may be initiated against those who indulged in “forgery of documents, fraud, fraud on courts, fraudulently dealing with the properties and criminal misappropriation, etc (sic).”
The charity commissioner should be directed to take criminal action against those persons who replaced or destroyed original documents in government records and who “reconstructed the documents illegally without reason and under that pretext destroyed the original document.”
Patil calls for the issue of the following directives to the charity commissioner, Mumbai:
n Initiate an inquiry in view of the facts that have come to light and complete it at the earliest in the case relating to “BDTA Ltd. PTR E-923”, “SPG PTR E-828” and their sister trusts.
Take legal steps to restore the properties.
Initiate an enquiry into all Change Reports since 1981 till 2008 and allow the BDTA PTR E-923 or the concerned trusts to challenge it if not challenged earlier for want of knowledge.
Delete the names of bogus trusts and trustees in the government records (revenue records, city survey record various municipal corporations, municipalities, gram panchayats, etc.) related with the properties of “BDTA Ltd. PTR E-923”, “SPG PTR E-828 and other sister trusts.
Take effective steps for the restoration of the properties to these trusts.
Recove costs, compensation and damages from the bogus trustees and persons involved in these forged transactions.
The charity commissioner should also be directed to make a report to the government. The commissioner should also declare all acts done and orders by the bogus trustees in the name of bogus trusts as illegal.
