Two Division Benches of the Kerala High Court on Monday recused themselves from hearing an appeal filed by the State government against a single judge’s verdict directing the Ernakulam District Collector to take over the Kothamangalam Cheriyapally, its precincts, and all its movable properties and hand them over to the vicar of the Orthodox faction after removing the protesters on the church premises.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P.Chali recused from hearing the appeal. Later it was posted before the Bench comprising Justice C.K. Adbul Rehim and Justice T.V.Anilkumar, which also recused from hearing the appeal. It will now come up for hearing before another Bench.
SC verdict
The government in its appeal said the directive was against the judgment of the Supreme Court relating to the church.
The Supreme Court had held that the church and the cemetery could not be confiscated by anybody. It had to be with the parishioners.
Parishioners’ role
In fact, the single judge did not take into consideration the State government’s submission that before implementing the Supreme Court judgment, it was necessary to identify the parishioners and who continued to have faith in the Malankara church.
In fact, it was not possible to remove the parishioners from the church and the cemetery before identifying them. It was probable that a law and order situation might arise if the Orthodox faction was allowed to enter the church before properly identifying the persons entitled to participate in the religious ceremonies.
