Author: Kumar Chellappan
Publication: Sunday Pioneer
Date: March 4,  2018
URL:   http://www.dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/sunday-pioneer/nation/church-plans-stir-even-as-crackdown-unearths
-more-illegal-hospices.html

Even as Tamil Nadu Government has found out that  more unauthorised institutions like the St Joseph’s Hospice at Kanchipuram were operating in different places of the State, the Catholic Church and the Tamil Nadu Bishop’s Council have taken strong exception to the crack-down ordered on such establishments.

 On Monday the Church authorities as well as the Tamil Nadu Bishop’s Council would stage a demonstration in Chennai to protest against the action on Hospices run by various priests in the State. This was stated by Father S J Anthonysamy, vicar general, Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore. The district administrations of Kanchipuram and Vellore have ordered the closure of two hospices operating in the districts. .

 In a communique, Father Antonysamy  asked the priests to inform all the parishes in the State about the demonstration to be held on Monday. This is the first major protest march to be held by the Church in Tamil Nadu after the 2002 agitation  launched against the anti-religious conversion law enacted by the then Jayalalithaa Government.

 Meanwhile, officials of the Child Welfare Committee found that the St Joseph’s Hospice at Paleswaram in Kanchipuram district had illegally accommodated nine children in the age group of one to nine in the same premises housing old and destitute. Child Welfare Committee members said that this was in violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection ) Act 2015.

 The children were relocated to approved children’s homes in the district.

 The district administration found that Father R V Thomas, who headed the St Joseph’s Hospice did not have a licence to run  the institution and he could not  furnish any official documents. He also failed to produce a building stability certificate.

 The Vellore district administration found that another hospice operated by Father Thomas was functioning from Thiruvalam. S A Raman, district collector, Vellore told reporters that the Hospice had no license, proper records, or proper sanitation amenities. The institution has been sealed since then. “A teachers training centre was functioning from here earlier. The authorities pf St Joseph’s Hospice took over the centre and converted it into a home for destitute. They did not have any registration to run such an establishment,” said the collector.     

 The concrete vaults which were used to inter the dead bodies of the destitute have given rise to charges of organ trade and harvesting . H Raja, national secretary of the BJP had demanded a thorough probe into the whole incident by a special team of experts.