KOCHI: Cardinal George Alencherry suffered yet another setback in the illegal land deal case after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against him. The SC dismissed the special leave petition filed by the head of the Syro-Malabar Church against the High Court order dismissing a similar petition by him in August 2021.
Apart from the cardinal, the eparchy of Bathery and the diocese of Thamarassery had filed special leave petitions challenging the general observations made by the HC that bishops have no power to alienate church assets.
According to Fr Antony Vadakekkara, PRO of the church, what happened in SC on Friday was the dismissal of the appeal filed by the cardinal.
“The decision of SC to not quash the cases doesn’t mean that he has been found guilty of the alleged crime. It only means that he has to stand trial,” he said. “As for the next steps to be taken against the backdrop of the SC judgment, the church will decide after consulting our lawyers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Fr Jose Vailikodath, spokesperson of the Athiroopatha Samrakshana Samithi, said, “In the context of the SC rejecting his appeal, Cardinal Alencherry should resign as head of the church as soon as possible. The archdiocese of Ernakulam is not just one of the 35 dioceses of the Syro-Malabar Church. It is the headquarters diocese. Therefore, if the cardinal who has to face trial in the land dispute case has even a little bit of morality, he should resign from his position and face trial. The same goes for the bishops’ synod of the church. If they hold dear to even an iota of Christian values, they should ask Mar Alencherry to resign.”
He added, “All the commissions that studied the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese land transfer case had found the cardinal guilty. Based on the inquiry report of the Joseph Inchody Commission and the audit report of KPMG, the Vatican had asked the cardinal and the Syro-Malabar synod to give restitution to the archdiocese.”