The Kerala High Court on Tuesday orally observed that the State government was taking the court for a ride by not implementing its directive issued a year ago to take over the Kothamangalam church, its precincts, and all its movable properties, and hand them over to the vicar of the Orthodox faction.
When a contempt of court petition filed against the State government and the Ernakulam District Collector came up for hearing, Justice P.B. Suresh Kumar further observed that the District Collector was unfit to hold the office if the Collector could not comply with the court's directive.
The court reminded the State Attorney that it had waited for a year to implement the directive. However, the Collector had failed to implement its order even after one year. The Collector was refusing to comply with the order, presumably at the instance of certain political leaders, the court said.
The State Attorney submitted that the church would soon be closed, taken over and produce its keys before the court. The court then said that in any case, it would pass an order in the case in a day or two. The State government could do whatever it wanted.
The court on Monday had asked the Central government to inform it about its view on deployment of Central forces to implement the court directive.
Assistant Solicitor General P. Vijayakumar, who appeared for the Centre, furnished the name and address of the competent officer of the CRPF, Thiruvananthapuram.
The court reserved its order in the case.
