Church dispute: Ker CM says trying to implement SC order through consensus

Days after the Supreme Court pulled up his government, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday told the state assembly that they are committed to implementing the apex court order on the dispute between the Orthodox and Jacobite factions of the Malankara church. "We are trying to implement it in a peaceful manner through consensus, avoiding any tension. We have always taken a stand respecting the court verdicts," Vijayan said replying to a submission in the Assembly by member Antony John.

The chief minister's reply assumes significance as on Tuesday the CPI(M)-led government was slammed by the apex court for not implementing its 2017 order on giving control of 1,100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church to the Orthodox faction. Police had to intervene in the dispute several times to ensure law and order situation, the chief minister told the Assembly, adding the Left government's strong resolve was to ensure that there would not be any hindrance for believers to offer prayers.

Noting that the CPI(M)-led LDF government had held talks with both factions to implement the apex court verdict, Vijayan said, "The government is committed to implementing the apex court order." Jacobite church followers have been accused of preventing access to the Orthodox faction, despite orders of the high court and the Supreme Court.

"Is Kerala above rule of law?" an angry Supreme Court had asked on Tuesday and threatened to put the state chief secretary behind bars for not implementing the judgement on the Orthodox-Jacobite feud over the right to conduct administration and prayers in the disputed churches. A bench comprising justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah had also warned it would summon the Kerala chief secretary for "making a mockery of the justice delivery system".

Meanwhile, the head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, said they will file a contempt of court petition if the apex court order is not implemented. The state government has the inalienable responsibility to implement the 2017 Supreme Court order, he said.

"If the government continues to take a negative approach and not execute the court order, we will move contempt of court petition in the apex court," the Church head told reporters in Kottayam. He sought to know why the state government, which showed urgency in implementing the SC verdict on Sabarimala women's entry issue, was not showing similar interest in implementing the court order on the Church dispute cases.

"We are concerned about the government's stand in our case," the priest said. In its 2017 verdict, the apex court had held that 1,100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church should be controlled by the Orthodox faction as per the 1934 Malankara Church guidelines.

The apex court's stern warning on Tuesday to the state government came while it was hearing an appeal filed by St Marys Orthodox Church and others against an order of the Kerala High Court which had "closed" their two writ petitions on the issue, after the state counsel submitted that earnest steps have been taken by the government for an amicable resolution of the disputes between the factions. The petitioners have claimed in the apex court that some of the directions passed by the high court in the matter were contrary to the top court's directive.

St Marys Orthodox Church and others had filed the two pleas in the high court seeking implementation of the apex court's orders passed in the matter and police protection for offering prayers in the churches there.