KOCHI: Two division benches of the Kerala High Court refused to hear an appeal filed by the state government against a single judge’s verdict in the Kothamangalam Cheriyapally case. The petition challenges the single judge order directing the Collector to take over the church , its precincts and movable properties, and hand them over to the vicar of the Orthodox faction.When the appeal came up in the morning session before the division bench -- consisting of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly, it recused itself from hearing the appeal.
Later, the matter was posted before the bench comprising Justice C K Abdul Rehim and Justice T V Anilkumar. However, they too refused to hear the case.The government in its appeal said the directive was in conflict with the SC judgment in the K S Varghese case. The apex court had held that the church and cemetery could not be confiscated by anybody. In fact, the single judge failed to consider its submission that in order to implement the SC judgment, it was necessary to identify those persons who were parishioners and who continued to have faith in the Malankara church.
It was not possible to remove anyone from the church and cemetery before identifying the parishioners.
It was very 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, stated in the appeal.