Supreme Court church order is immutable

Thiruvananthapuram: The SC, in its order issued on Tuesday, made it clear that there is no scope for any different interpretation of its judgment of July 3, 2017 in the Orthodox-Jacobite church case and that the State Government has “to ensure” that its judgment “is implemented forthwith”.

The top court ruled that there was no contradiction between its order in the K S Varghese and others v St Paul’s & St Peter’s Syrian Orthodox and others case and the High Court order.

The top court order says: “There cannot me any violation of the order by anyone concerned. Even the State government cannot act contrary to the judgment and the observations made by this court and (the government) has the duty to ensure that the judgment of this court is implemented forthwith.

“The State and all parties shall abide by the judgment passed by this court in totality and cannot solve the matter in any matter different than the judgment passed by this court. No parallel system can be permitted”. On Tuesday, the top court asked whether the state was “above the rule of law” and admonished the chief secretary for not implementing its 2017 judgment. Dismissing 12 petitions filed by the Jacobite faction, Justices Arun Mishra and M.R. Shah upheld the 1934 constitution of the church. This has its impact on more than 2000 parish churches the Malankara church. Justice Mishra said the State was “making a mockery of the justice delivery system”.

“Tell your chief secretary that if he intends to go against the SC’s order, we will call everyone here” Justice Mishra addressed senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, for Kerala.