The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Kerala high court to decide afresh on the contempt petitions arising out of non-compliance of a 2017 judgment of the top court settling a long-standing dispute between the Malankara Orthodox and Jacobite factions over administration of churches in Kerala.
Setting aside the October 2024 order of the high court directing the state administration to take possession of six churches of the Jacobite faction and hand them over to the Malankara Orthodox faction, the top court said what was “bothering” them was that part of the order which permits police to enter inside a religious place. The court left it to the high court to devise some other mechanism by which the contempt of the top court’s order could be resolved.
The order passed by a bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said, “While entertaining the contempt proceedings, the high court needs to determine some of the relevant issues, including…should the high court, in a dispute relating to religious affairs, direct the civil administration to take over a religious place and to what extent such an intervention is desirable in public interest.”
In addition, the court highlighted certain other aspects for the HC to bear in mind while deciding the contempt, namely – what is the true import of the decisions of this court, who are the parties who shall be bound by the decision of this court, which part of the decree that has attained finality remains unfulfilled, the remedial action is required to be taken in this regard and the effect of a 2020 Kerala burial law on the contempt pleas.
“Since the said questions require fresh consideration by the high court, we remit the matter to the division bench to decide the fate of contempt petitions afresh after hearing all parties concerned,” the court said.
Senior advocate KK Venugopal, who led arguments for the Malankara Orthodox faction, requested the court to put the present order in abeyance as it had the potential of reopening the settled disputes as each question framed by the court for the HC to consider will go against the previous orders of the top court which have consistently held in favour of his client.
The bench told Venugopal, “Police going inside the religious place is what is bothering us. The high court will be free to pass appropriate orders for enforcing our orders, wherever it is found that they (Jacobite faction) have not been given effect to…We are hoping high court will find out some mechanism.”
In December last year, the top court had issued status quo and had expressed serious concerns over allowing state and the police to meddle with religious affairs. The status quo order stood vacated on Thursday with the bench allowing the HC to take a fresh look at the matter.
Venugopal pointed out that on a previous occasion on December 3, 2024, the top court had observed that the Jacobite faction was in contempt as it failed to hand over possession of the six churches to the Malankara Orthodox group. The bench clarified that it has not expressed anything on merits while requesting the high court to form its own decision.
The dispute between the two factions dates back over a century over ownership and administration of over 1,000 churches along with institutions run by them. Both factions claim to be the original church established by Apostle St Thomas leading to a schism in 1912 followed by prolonged litigation before courts. There was a brief period of reconciliation in 1959 till they parted ways again in 1972.
The 2017 decision of the top court in KS Varghese case cemented the earlier views expressed by the top court since 1958 upholding the 1934 constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. This judgment gave absolute authority to the spiritual head of the Malankara Orthodox faction over churches belonging to both factions. However, the enforcement of the court’s order has been marred by resistance, political hesitance and recurring clashes between the two factions.
The Jacobite faction was led by senior advocate Shyam Divan who said that the judgments of the top court in the past were passed in suits pertaining to specific churches and it cannot apply across the board. Even the state represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal was present in court as on the last date, the court directed Kerala government to provide granular data on the population of both factions, going by sub-regions or gram panchayat, in a sealed cover. In the light of the order passed, the court did not consider it necessity to go through the data.