Coimbatore: With just a few more days left for the election of Pastorate committee members and Diocesan Council Members, a section of members of CSI All Souls Church have locked horns with Coimbatore Diocese over the appointment of Presbyter in charge by Coimbatore bishop and removal of members from voters list.
Coimbatore: With just a few more days left for the election of Pastorate committee members and Diocesan Council Members, a section of members of CSI All Souls Church have locked horns with Coimbatore Diocese over the appointment of Presbyter in charge by Coimbatore bishop and removal of members from voters list.
Charles Samraj, Presbyter-in-charge
The members were unhappy that as many 50 members, most who opposed the appointment of Rev Charles Samraj as a Presbyter in charge, were removed from the final voter's list, denying their right to nominate and participate in the elections. They alleged him of arbitrarily and unilaterally preparing the voters list and removing the members without issuing any reason or proper notice.
Simplicity, which has accessed documents written to the Bishop Rev Timothy Ravinder Dev Pradeep demanding an intervention reveals members alleging Presbyter in charge of Rev Charles Samraj of preparing the final voters list by removing 50 members of the church, even without consulting the office-bearers.
The members came to know of their names removed when the tentative voter list was put up on the notice board of the church. Apparently, the election is scheduled to be held on 28 July and 17 July was the last day for filing the nominations.
One of the members, on conditions of anonymity, claimed that several cases, some criminal, are pending against Charles Samraj and his appointment as Presbyter in charge was made by the bishop despite strong objections. The bishop’s decision to appoint Samraj only reveals that he too is under some pressure, he said.
Last year several members had raised objections against the appointment of Rev Samraj by the bishop as the assistant Presbyter. But they were forced to file a case in the judicial magistrate court, when the bishop decided to appoint him as Presbyter in charge on 1 July this year.
Many cases are pending against him. This includes the case in which both the Bishop Rev Thimothy Ravinder Dev Pradeep and Samraj has received the anticipatory bail from the Madras high court, he claimed. Based on the complaints, CSI Synod had appointed a fact-finding committee to look into the series of allegation against both the bishop and Samraj, he added.
Another member of the church, who also requested anonymity, said in 2011 Samaraj, then a pastor in Yercaud was suspended by the Moderator S Vasanthakumar. However Samraj not just refused to accept the suspension, but also beat up one Rajkumar, who had gone to serve him the order, he claimed.
He alleged that there is maladministration and huge misappropriation of funds. The fact will be out once the fact-finding committee appointed by the Officers of the CSI Synod headed by Bishop Chandrasekaran of Trichy-Tanjore Dioceses, submit its report.
Interestingly, similar removal of the members has taken place in other churches under the CSI Coimbatore Diocese. Unlike in Coimbatore, it has been challenged by the members in some of the churches.
However, it was the letter to all the Chairpersons of CSI Coimbatore Diocese, which has further triggered the members to challenge the bishop against such action.
The bishop in his letter has demanded the chairpersons not to entertain the nomination of those persons who have gone the court until the cases are over or they voluntarily withdraw the cases before filling their nomination for election.
He orders this citing the constitution of CSI chapter XI clause 3, which says all those members who have gone in the court without exhausting all the provision available in the constitution are ineligible to participate in the governance of the church.
Meanwhile some of the members removed from the voter's list in Coimbatore said that they would wait for the elections to get over and will later think of moving the court if there is no respite from the Coimbatore Diocese.
Simplicity tried to contact Bishop Ravinder innumerable times, however he was unavailable for comments.
When contacted over the phone, he refused to speak and his assistant Chapalin Rev Samuel informed that he will only reply through the mail. However even after sending the mail, the bishop failed to respond to the queries.