The Kerala High Court on Tuesday slammed Ernakulam District Collector S. Suhas for not complying with the court order directing him to take over the Kothamangalam Marthoman Cheriyapally and hand it over to the vicar of the Orthodox faction in the Malankara Church.
Justice P. B. Suresh Kumar criticised the official when a petition seeking to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Mr. Suhas came up for hearing. When the court found that the Collector failed to appear before the court, it warned State Attorney K.A. Sohan that an arrest warrant would be issued against the Collector if he did not appear in person right then and there, following which the Collector turned up in half an hour.
The court told the Collector that he had simply ignored the court order, which amounted to "an insult to the court". If the orders of the court were not implemented, nobody would approach courts and the people would lose faith in the judiciary. This would ultimately lead to the failure of rule of law, the court orally observed.
Two options
The judge said the court now had two options: it can either put him behind bars or order some other forces to implement the order. The Collector then sought two more months to comply with the order saying that there would be law and order problems if the order was enforced. Besides, parishioners sitting inside the church would have to be convinced before giving effect to the order.
The court then said that it was a shame on the government that nothing had been done to implement the court order. It was really the might of some people that had been prevailing. It was now two months since the court had issued the directive. In fact, the court had to cut a sorry figure because of the non-implementation of the order.
The judge said he had received an anonymous letter threatening him for passing the order. The court later reserved its order in the case.
A Bench comprising Justice A.M. Shaffique and Justice Mary Joseph declined to entertain the appeal filed by the State government against the order on certain technical grounds. The court asked the government to file the appeal after making amends to it.
