Lease over, says church in bid to buy peace

CHENNAI: In a twist to the de Monte legacy, the archbishop of the Madras-Mylapore archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church announced on Tuesday—after a decade-old battle with the conscience keepers within their fold, the Forum of Catholic Unity—that the Bens Garden property would be developed only by the church and not be leased to outsiders.The statement was in reaction to the ripple created by a petition, currently under investigation, filed by the Forum of Catholic Unity in July last year, questioning the lease dealings on the 212-ground Bens Garden property on Boat Club Road, which was bequeathed by John de Monte, a Portuguese merchant, to the church for charitable work in early 19th century.Archbishop Chinnappa told reporters, “There are various misconceptions and false information being spread with regard to this property. The church is not going to lease the property to outsiders anymore. We will develop it ourselves to mobilise funds for the welfare of the poor and the destitute of this archdiocese.”Talking about the earlier lease deals for the plot to various parties, the archbishop said, “We have evicted Jeppiar of Sathyabama Deemed University from the possession of 150 grounds of this property. Likewise, MGM, which had 50 grounds, was also asked to vacate. The matter is before court.”Regarding the lease deal of 150 grounds with Nitesh Estates made in 2007, he said it had been served a notice of termination of agreement, as it had failed to honour the MoU and make the promised payment. Of the quoted `260 crore, only `5 crore was paid. M G Devasagayam, a retired bureaucrat and one of the petitioners, said the earlier two deals with Jeppiar and MGM were made around 2001 by former Archbishop James Arul Das.A police investigation is on into the petition filed by the forum on various IPC charges like misappropriation of funds, criminal breach of trust, and cheating and dishonestly, inducing delivery of property.