Warring factions: SC orders status quo on management of Kerala churches

A bench of Justices noted both factions had expressed their inability to comply with its December 3 direction to Jacobite Syrian Church to hand over the administration of six churches to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church faction.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed for maintaining status quo on the management and administration of churches in the dispute between Jacobite Syrian Church and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church factions in Kerala.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan noted both factions had expressed their inability to comply with its December 3 direction to Jacobite Syrian Church to hand over the administration of six churches to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church faction.

"The status quo with regard to administration of churches as of now shall be continued till further orders," the bench said and asked the state government to adopt a persuasive approach, if the situation aggravated.

The bench said the issue required a detailed hearing and posted the matter on January 29 and January 30, 2025.

On December 3, the top court directed the Jacobite Syrian Church to hand over the administration of six churches in Kerala to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church faction saying they were in contempt of its 2017 judgement.

It had observed that the members of the Jacobite Syrian Church were in contempt for "wilfully disobeying" the 2017 judgment.

The verdict was over the dispute between the two factions, wherein the top court held that 1,100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church should be controlled by the Orthodox faction, in accordance with the 1934 Malankara Church guidelines.

Jacobite church followers have been accused of preventing access to the Orthodox faction, despite orders from both the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court.

It directed the Jacobite faction to hand over the administration of three churches each in Ernakulam and Palakkad districts to the Malankara faction and file an affidavit to that effect.

The top court, however, asked the Malankara faction to ensure the common amenities in these churches such as burial grounds, schools, hospitals, etc., can be enjoyed by the Jacobite faction as well in conformity with the 1934 Constitution.

The top court passed the direction on the appeal filed against an order of the high court which directed the district collectors of Palakkad and Ernakulam to take possession of six churches under the control of the Jacobite faction.

It had noted that the members of Jacobite factions were undoubtedly in contempt for having wilfully disobeyed the decisions of this court in K S Varghese v. St Peter's & Paul's Syrian Church (2017 verdict) and St Marys' Orthodox Church (2020) to the extent it pertained to the entrustment of administration of the Churches as per 1934 Constitution.

It had directed the Malankara orthodox faction to also give an undertaking in writing to the effect that all public facilities in the church's compound including burial grounds, schools, hospitals, etc., shall continue to be availed by all members of the community including Catholics in conformity with the 1934 Constitution but without insisting for the pledge of allegiance to that Constitution for availing such services.

On October 21, the high court issued summons to state authorities, including the chief secretary and the state police chief, for non-compliance of the previous directive to take possession of six churches involved in the dispute.

The high court ordered the state's top officials to appear before it for the framing of charges for contempt of court in the case.

The court issued the order in a case wherein it directed the state government to take the possession of six churches, currently under the control of the Jacobite faction. The government, however, was stated to have not implemented the order, citing law and order issues.

State authorities informed the court that a large group of Jacobite parishioners were blocking entry to the churches despite its genuine efforts to implement the court's orders.