Mangaluru: Members of Karnataka southern diocese of Church of South India (CSI) held a protest on Tuesday against what they termed as illegal and unjustified actions as well as arrogant attitude of the concerned. The protestors barged into the house of bishop of CSI Mangaluru diocese, Mohan Raj and levelled various allegations against him.
The protestors, who came from Mysuru and some parts of Dakshina Kannada, alleged that bishop Mohan Manoraj, in connivance with treasurer, Vincent Palanna, have been taking several illegal decisions without the approval of the executive committee of the diocese, thereby acting against the interests of the diocese.
The protesters said that provident fund organization, based on complaints received from some pastors, had raided the office of the diocese, and ordered the officials to immediately remit provident fund deducted from the employees to their office without delay. They alleged that to remit this money, the bishop and treasurer, without any authorization or concurrence of the executive committee, had raised loan of one crore rupees from AF&P Board and alleged that the above persons had misused the amount of above loan without remitting provident arrears which was also misused.
There was heated exchange of words as the protestors charged the bishop of taking control of Holdsworth Mission Hospital at Mysuru with the help of hooligans and dissolving of the board of the hospital that was constitutionally formed, duly nominating a 'ruffian' belonging to another religion who is supporting the bishop, to the board of the hospital. They also alleged that the bishop, to serve his own interests, had transferred all accounts unilaterally to a private bank from a nationalized bank without informing anyone. They said that the building owned by the diocese at Sayyaji Rao Road Mysuru worth over Rs 100 crore, lease of which will end in 2018, should have been taken back through legal process.
Police arrived at the spot and sent the protestors out, asking them to appear in the police station to resolve the matter.
