Kottayam: The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church welcomed the Kerala chief minister’s commitment to the Supreme Court order on a long-standing dispute between the two factions of the Malankara Church but expressed concerns over the delay in implementing the order. Even as the Malankara Orthodox Church head Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II asserted the Kerala government was duty bound to implement the SC order, the Jacobite faction indicated that it cannot be evicted from its properties as the rival group hoped.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court asked the government to abide by its two-year-old judgment regarding the administration of church assets between the feuding Orthodox and the Jacobite groups and flayed the government inaction to execute it.
In its 2017 verdict, the apex court had held that 1,100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church should be controlled by the Orthodox faction as per the 1934 Malankara Church guidelines. Jacobite Church followers have been accused of preventing access to its places of worship to devotees and clergy from the Orthodox faction, despite the orders of the high court and the Supreme Court.
The Orthodox Church, one of the parties to the legal case, said that the state government should take legal measures to implement the court order without any conditions. The faction expressed its reservation on the government’s intention to try for a compromise to solve the tangle.
The bid for compromise talk was just a measure to delay the implementation of the court order, its association secretary Biju Oommen said.
Though the government received a stern warning from the Supreme Court for not implementing the order, it was trying to reap political dividends even at the cost of challenging the legal system of the country, he added.
Hope peace is ensured: CM
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, meanwhile, said in the Kerala legislative assembly on Thursday that the government was focused on the peaceful and consensual implementation of the Supreme Court order of July 3, 2017.
Pinarayi said in the assembly that the dispute between the Orthodox and the Jacobite factions on matters related to worship in the churches went back several decades. Though the court said that the two factions were bound by the church constitution of 1934, it also suggested the exploration of a solution by amending the constitution to ward of untoward incidents, Pinarayi said.
He also said that the row cannot be allowed to snowball into a law and order problem or give rise to a parallel administrative system in churches.
The government has initiated talks with the two parties in light of the court observations, he said. Even the police had to intervene to maintain law and order and to ward off untoward incidents in certain situations, he added. He said the government would ensure that the faithful faced no barriers to exercise their right to worship.
The Supreme Court had ruled in 2017 that the churches should be administered by a single body under the church constitution of 1934. The court has now reiterated its own judgment and put the onus back on the state government to implement the order.
Implement SC order: Catholicos
Kottayam: The Devalokam-based Catholicos said that the government’s insistence that it was not a party to the case did not hold water anymore. The government has a constitutional duty to implement the court order, Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II said.
The Catholicos said that the church was no longer prepared to forsake its rightful claim over the church’s assets. He said that the church was peeved by the slow pace of the government which hastily acted on the court order on women’s entry into the Sabarimala shrine.
Stating that the court would go ahead with contempt proceedings, he said the church had already launched the proceedings on the basis of legal counsel, ruling out any protests in the streets.
He said that the implementation of a court order should not be lead to a law-and-order situation. In any case, it was the government’s responsibility to rein in any such situation. The government may inform the Supreme Court if any law-and-order situation arises.
He also said that the cabinet sub-committee could not claim to be above the Supreme Court in matters of adjudication.
The Church was willing to participate in any talks once the Supreme Court order was implemented, he said.
The Catholicos also said that the ruling Left Democratic Front government had failed to keep its promises to the Orthodox Church.
When asked if the Orthodox Church was open to accepting anyone from the rival faction who approved of the 1934 constitution and the Supreme Court order, the Catholicos said that the church would consider any application.
“About 80 percent of the flock are not interested in court cases. They are still working together. The row is primarily confined to those in the administrative levels. People in the Jacobite Church are in touch with us but nobody holding high offices have spoken out so far. We will consider if anyone gives an application for joining us. Nobody has done so far. The church has to follow some norms while anointing bishops. We can only approve of properly anointed bishops,” he said.
Jacobite Church urges caution
Kottayam: Meanwhile, the Jacobite faction urged government not to act in haste but adhere to all procedures of a civil case.
Any civil dispute-related court order can be implemented only through civil procedures, said church synod secretary Dr Thomas Mar Thimothios. He said that the government could not act on the order without completing the civil procedures.
He said that the rival Malankara Orthodox Church was daydreaming that it could just claim hundreds of churches controlled by the Jacobite Church. He said that the Jacobite churches would remain with the Jacobite leadership.
Thimothios said that the court order on Sabarimala did not stem from a civil dispute. The authorities had a constitutional duty to implement that order because it was meant to protect a fundamental right whereas the order on church properties was based on a dispute between two parties.
Latest SC order
New Delhi: On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Kerala government and the two factions of the Malankara Church to abide by a two-year-old judgment regarding the administration of church assets. The court said that the government and the two factions had failed to arrive at any solution that contradicted its judgment on July 3, 2017.
A bench of Justice Arun Mishra and Justice M R Shah said that the Kerala High Court could approach the issue only in the light of the Supreme Court order.
The court order, issued on July 2 and published on Thursday, pertained to a petition by the Orthodox Church regarding administrative rights over two churches in Kattachira and Varikkoli. The bench had warned that the chief secretary might have to go to jail for not implementing the court order.
The Supreme Court had ruled in 2017 that the churches should be administered by a single body under the church constitution of 1934. The court has now reiterated its own judgment and put the onus back on the state government to implement the order.
The court also expunged certain remarks made by the high court which were not in the spirit of the apex court order.
