Karnataka: Bishop Cotton capers

Over 8,000 middle class households in the once-upon-a-time garden city of Bangalore are witnessing an unprecedented power struggle between the principals of Bishop Cotton Boys (BCB, estb.1865) and Bishop Cotton Girls (BCG, estb.1911) schools and the moderator (archbishop) of the heavyweight Church of South India (CSI) — which claims a following of 3.5 million in the Indian peninsula — with a mixture of fascination and horror. At issue is who should be the supreme authority of these high networth day schools with an aggregate enrolment of 8,000 students, and ensconced on 21 acres of real estate valued at Rs.1,000 crore in the heart of the city.Until end March, all seemed to be well at Bangalores most respected secondaries. In the EducationWorld-C fore Survey of Indias Most Respected Schools 2009 (EW September), BCB was ranked Bangalores best day school, second in south India and sixth nationwide. BCG was ranked third, fifth and 14th respectively. However on March 25 in a statement to the Times of India, which caught the schools 16,000 parents and the citys academic community off guard, Col. (Retd.) John Ellis and Princess (sic) Franklyn, the principals of BCB and BCG, suddenly announced an intent to simultaneously resign their offices. According to them, the board of management of the two schools chaired by the Rt. Rev. S. Vasantha Kumar, moderator of the (Anglican) Church of South India, had stripped them of all powers of administration and management, especially powers relating to admissions and managing the faculty. However, following spontaneous parents protests — over 200 parents staged a sit-in protest on the BCB campus on March 28 — the principals withdrew their resignations in the interest of the welfare of students. Unsurprisingly, this public airing of grievances by the principals didnt go down well with the management and Bishop Vasantha Kumar in particular. At an emergency meeting held on May 7, the executive committee of the CSI Karnataka Central Diocese (KCD) issued an order transferring Ellis and Franklyn to the citys second-rung Cathedral and St. Johns schools — also governed by CSI-KCD. Buoyed by parental and public support, the principals filed a petition in the city civil court challenging the vengeful, illegal and unauthorised transfer orders. On May 14 the court issued an injunction against the transfers. This stay order was challenged in the Karnataka high court by CSI whose counsel Nalini Chidambaram flew in from Chennai, and arguing that the transfers were a routine administrative decision passed under the byelaws of CSIs KCD obtained a reversal of the lower courts stay order. Meanwhile, with scandalous stories of CSI-KCD office bearers demanding huge donations for admissions into these highly ranked schools, and of direct transfers of cash from the schools bank account into Vasantha Kumars personal account among other narratives highlighting the bishops extravagant lifestyle keeping the gossip mills churning, parents grouped under Bishop Cotton Parents Association (BCPA), weighed in to support the beleaguered principals. On May 11, the association filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Karnataka high…