Mumbai: Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, has set up a grievance committee headed by a retired High Court judge to deal with complaints about the functioning of priests and archdiocesan bodies.
The cardinal announced that the 10-member forum would function for two years with immediate effect. It will be based at Archbishop’s House, 21 Nathalal Parekh Marg, Mumbai 400 001.
It is headed by Justice Aloysius Stanislaus Aguiar, former judge of the Bombay High Court.
Those seeking to file a complaint have to deposit 500 rupees at the time of submitting their petition. The amount will be refunded if the panel examining the petition finds the complaints “genuine and legitimate,” says the cardinal’s April 12 notification announcing the forum.
Earlier, the cardinal had asked the archdiocesan bodies to propose names of persons to be on the grievance committee.
Based on their recommendations, the prelate chose David Joseph, Eric Pinto and Felix Fernandes from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council and Fathers Allwyn D’Silva and Francis Carvalho from the Priests’ Council. Other members in the committee are Genevieve Vas, Gordon D’Souza and Raphael D’Souza representing the Bombay Catholic Sabha (council).
Justice Aguiar was born in 1943 and graduated from St Xavier’s College. He did his law from K C Law College, Bombay. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the High Court in 2001. He retired on October 8, 2005.