Another twist in Stephen’s saga

The latest in a series of controversies St Stephen’s College has been battling recently, is the sacking of the legal counsel of the college’s Supreme Council and the Governing Body, Sunil J Matthews, on charges of ‘misleading’ the chairman.

The latest in a series of controversies St Stephen’s College has been battling recently, is the sacking of the legal counsel of the college’s Supreme Council and the Governing Body, Sunil J Matthews, on charges of ‘misleading’ the chairman.

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Matthews who received a mail from SC and GB chairman, Bishop Sunil Singh on Saturday morning about his termination expressed his disappointment in a letter addressed to the Singh, who is also the head of the Church of Northern India (CNI).

“The fact that I now get to know from the newspapers that I have been removed by you, and also that this has been done at the instance of the Synod Secretariat, in particular Rev Enos Das Pradhan, who has gleefully congratulated you for taking this “bold step”, does not exonerate you of your guilt...” says the letter. “It is clear that I am being made the scapegoat in order to save your skin …”

He also indicted the CNI secretariat and its general secretary Rev Enos Pradhan and Principal Valson Thampu in the letter.

“I have... soft pedaled a lot of irregularities committed by the CNI secretariat and its general secretary and the principal of St Stephen’s mainly because you requested me not to raise these issues as by raising them your position would have become more vulnerable before the CNI Secretariat.”

Nandita Narain, dean of student’s St Stephen’s felt that the college has far more important issues to deal with. “We are worried about the church’s takeover bid and the UGC funding being in danger. This is an irrelevant issue and the controversy has been created just to divert attention from the real issues.”