Court plea to end church litigations

Don’t force the court to implement Supreme Court judgement: Judge

September 30, 2021 07:46 pm | Updated 07:46 pm IST - KOCHI

The Kerala High Court on Thursday orally observed that if the entry of vicars or clergy or the office-bearers of the Manakarna Church appointed by the Catholicose under the 1934 constitution of the church is blocked, the court would have to step in.

Justice Devan Ramachandran appealed to the good conscience of the heads of the Orthodox and Jacobite factions to put an end to the long litigations resorted to by both the factions.

It orally observed that no Orthodox or Jacobite factions did exist after the Supreme Court judgement in the K.S. Varghese case. The churches should work as per the 1934 constitution. The head of both the factions should understand that game was up with the Supreme Court judgement.

They should realise that the litigations were bleeding them. The court said the mindset of the heads of both the factions would have to change and end the long journey of litigations. The court observed that the disputes had set one citizen against another. Even the State was in quandary as to what to do.

The court wanted to know who was benefiting from this fight. “It's not the ordinary devotees. It's definitely not the Almighty,” who was probably pained to see such rows among the believers.

“There is one church and one constitution. You are all the same; you are all human beings with the same colour of blood running in your veins. Why is that so hard to understand?” the court told both factions.

The judge said he would be the last person to order force to implement the Supreme Court judgement, but would do so when he was pushed. The court made these oral observations while dealing with a slew of cases relating to church disputes.

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