Kerala High Court warns collectors to take over six disputed churches in a week or...

The Kerala High Court today ordered the District Collectors of Ernakulam and Palakkad to ensure that six churches embroiled in a long-running Orthodox-Jacobite dispute are taken over by these authorities within a week [St Thomas Orthodox Syrian Church & anr v Dr Venu V IAS & ors and connected cases]..Justice VG Arun orally cautioned that the Court may summon the collectors and the State's Chief Secretary if its directive is not complied with. "The takeover of the church must happen in a week. If not, the Chief Secretary and District Collectors might have to spend time in court," he said..The Court had earlier passed an order on August 30, by which it ordered the collectors to take over the possession of these six churches.The August 30 order was passed after Justice Arun noticed the blatant disobedience of the Court's 2022 directions to allow members of the Malankara Orthodox Church (Orthodox faction) to enter and peacefully perform prayer services at the churches due to obstruction by Jacobite parishioners.The judge said he was left with no option but to call on the District Collectors to take over the possession of these churches.The matter will be heard next on October 7, Monday..The Orthodox and Jacobite factions which were initially part of the same church, split over differences on who the church should owe its allegiance to.The Orthodox faction follows the Malankara Metropolitan in Kerala, while the Jacobite faction recognizes the Patriarch of Antioch as its spiritual leader. The Supreme Court’s 2017 ruling in KS Varghese v. St. Peter’s and Paul’s Syrian Orthodox Church largely favored the Orthodox faction. Despite this, the Orthodox faction were forced to repeatedly seek enforcement of the Supreme Court’s judgment.In one such petition, a single-judge of the High Court in 2022 directed the police to provide necessary assistance to the petitioners (Orthodox faction) to peacefully enter and conduct religious services in certain churches under dispute.A contempt petition was filed by two vicars of the Orthodox faction in 2022, following non-implementation of this 2022 High Court ruling.This led the High Court to order the police to assist Orthodox members to peacefully access the churches. However, large groups of Jacobite parishioners, including elderly men and women, continued to block entry.The State authorities informed the Court that while efforts were made to implement the 2022 order, they had to withdraw due to such massive agitation, which had the potential to escalate and cause loss of life. Jacobite members claimed that the 2022 order was based on a mistaken understanding of the situation. However, the High Court firmly rejected this argument and made it clear that the Court’s directives were not optional and must be enforced without further delay..The Orthodox petitioners were represented by Senior Advocate S Sreekumar, assisted by Roshan D Alexander, Tina Alex Thomas, Harimohan, and Kochurani James.Additional Advocate General Ashok M Cherian appeared for the State authorities.Senior Advocates Naveen R Nath and K Ramakumar, along with advocates Sajan Varghese and PV Elias, represented other private respondents.