It’s not often that a school ground is turned into a parking lot to raise money, and such a move has not gone down well with members of the Centenary Methodist Church, Hyderabad, who have alleged that the management of the missionary institutions have been misusing several such church properties.
“The Stanley and Methodist Engineering colleges are non-minority institutions even though they belong to the Centenary Methodist Church. If it is church property, then how are they not minority institutions?” questioned David Jude, a church member. He further stated that by allowing cars to be parked in the main entrance of Stanley Girls High School, the management has endangered students’ lives.
Mr. Jude also claimed that One Continent Bar and Hotel, in the building that houses the Brand Factory outlet, are also church property, but have been sold away. A former lecturer from Stanley Degree College, requesting anonymity, also said that many teachers had left jobs due to ill-treatment from the church’s management and internal strife.
“A draft bill was formed to ensure that church property was not sold, but it never saw the light of the day,” said ex-MLA Christine Lazarus, who requested the Chief Minister to look into the issue of protecting missionary properties. Velupula Das, founder and chairman, Telangana Council of Churches, also said that his organisation has asked the State government to introduce laws to bar selling of Christian properties.
“Church managements have sold away lands, and there is no law to stop that. A committee was formed to look into it by the Kiran Kumar Reddy government, but nothing happened,” mentioned Mr. Das.
Bhaskar Benny, an advocate who visited and inspected missionary properties with the House Committee years ago, said, “The management of the Methodist church has tied-up with an educational society, to ensure that the colleges did not come under the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Endowment Act, thereby not being called minority institutions.”
When contacted, Reverend Dayanand, district superintendent, Centenary Methodist Church, Hyderabad, refuted the allegations. “No law has been violated and the colleges are running as per the government norms. All the grievances that people have should be addressed to the Bishop, who is the chairman of the Regional Executive Board,” he said.