Bhopal, Feb. 28: A plan for a wakf-like board to manage Christian properties, including missionary schools, has put Madhya Pradesh’s BJP chief minister at loggerheads with the Church.

Christian religious leaders in Bhopal plan to move Jabalpur High Court against the state’s plan to enact a law for the maintenance and protection of properties owned by Christian institutions.

Father Anand, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in the state, has accused the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government of trying to harass Christians and polarise religious communities before the Lok Sabha polls.

Chauhan, however, said he was merely acting on a recommendation from the state minorities commission.

The commission has appointed a retired high court judge to draft a law that will allow the formation of a body to manage Church properties, including cemeteries, on the lines of the Muslim Wakf Board.

Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, head of the Catholic Church in the state, said: “Church assets, unlike wakf properties, are purchased after paying money and not taken from the government on charity. The community will move the high court against any such decision.”

The Muslim Wakf Board manages properties for religious and charitable purposes and supports Muslim schools, colleges, hospitals and charity institutions, using the money it generates from its properties and donations.

The archbishop said all Church properties came under the ambit of the state act of firms and societies, and that regular meetings were held with government officials, accounts audited and documents submitted.

Since the Church manages its own properties legally, following all government laws and regulations, it does not need an additional institutional monitor, he argued.

Church leaders said Madhya Pradesh had over 5,000 Christian institutions —churches, schools, colleges, hospitals and cemeteries. In Bhopal alone, Christian institutions’ properties are worth at least Rs 600 crore.

State minister for religious endowments Laxmi Kant Sharma said: “The government takes care of Muslim properties as well as Hindu properties, so Christian properties can also be looked after.” Some Christian properties, he added, needed state conservation.

Christian leaders have decided to impose social sanctions on state minorities commission member Anand Bernard, said to be the moving force behind the proposal.

The action committee of the Madhya Pradesh Isai Mahasangh has asked all Christians to stay away from Bernard.

An unfazed Bernard claimed that only a handful of vested interests were resisting his recommendation, aimed at transparency in Christian organisations’ property management.