New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed maintaining the status quo on the management and administration of churches in the dispute between Jacobite Syrian Church and Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church factions in Kerala.
On December 3, the Supreme Court directed the Jacobite Syrian Church to hand over the administration of six churches in Kerala to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church faction.
Today, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan noted both factions had expressed their inability to comply with its December 3 direction.
"The status quo with regard to administration of churches as of now shall be continued till further orders," said the bench.
The bench also asked the Kerala government to adopt a persuasive approach, if the situation aggravated. The bench said the issue required a detailed hearing and scheduled the matter for further hearing on January 29 and January 30, 2025.
On December 3, the apex court said that the members of the Jacobite Syrian Church were in contempt for "wilfully disobeying" the 2017 judgment.
The bench had directed the Jacobite faction to hand over the administration of three churches each in Ernakulam and Palakkad districts to the Malankara faction. The bench also asked the Jacobite faction to file a compliance affidavit. The bench had made it clear that "Failure to do so will result in initiation of contempt proceedings".
Regarding common amenities in churches such as burial grounds, schools, hospitals, etc, the bench had asked the Malankara faction to ensure that the Jacobite faction enjoyed the amenities.
In the 2017 judgment, the apex 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 apex court.
