The Kerala High Court on Tuesday observed that the Supreme Court judgment in the Malankara Church dispute case cannot be allowed to be violated with impunity.
Justice Devan Ramachandran, while hearing petitions filed by the Orthodox faction seeking police protection for the churches under it, observed orally that the Jacobite faction had deliberately chosen to misinterpret the court’s intention to find peace with both the factions and was casting aspersions on it.
He pointed out that letters were dashed off to the Chief Justice against him but he did not take the insinuations against him seriously.
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The court orally observed that one of the factions in the Malankara Church kept on flouting the Supreme Court judgment as if faith got precedence over the Constitution. If the vicars or priests appointed by Catholics were obstructed from discharging their duties, the court would be obliged to intervene.
In fact, the court was trying to resolve the disputes that had been pending for decades. In spite of the best efforts by the court, the Jacobite faction deliberately tried to misunderstand the court’s intentions. In fact, pressure was being brought upon the court by bombarding the Chief Justice with letters, thereby denigrating one of the pillars of the constitution, the judge added.
In fact, one of factions wanted to continue the status quo. It thought that it could run a parallel administration as long as it was able to avoid court orders. In fact, there had to be some meeting point to resolve the issue. They were free to have faith in their religion. But they should equally have faith in the constitutional principles.
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The court adjourned the hearing in the case to November 10 in view of an appeal filed against the court’s interim order directing to take steps for resolving the disputes through mediation.