JIJU VARGHESE Vs. REJI MANKUZHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals have been heard together since both of them challenge the judgment and decree in O.S. No. 8/2008 on the files of the I Additional District Court, Ernakulam.

(2.) Both these appeals have been filed by the defendants in the suit, who assert that the court below ought not to have decreed it in the manner it has now done at the instance of the plaintiffs, who have been arrayed as respondents in these matters.

(3.) Before I answer the various allegations of the parties, I must first record certain aspects relating to the management and control of the various constituent Churches under the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has spoken emphatically and conclusively in P.M.A. Metropolitan v. Moran Marthoma (AIR 1995 SC 2001) and K.S. Varghese and others v. Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's Syrian Orthodox Church and others [2017 (3) KLT 261], that they are to be governed exclusively by the 1934 Constitution of the Malankara Church. Obviously therefore, any contention to the contrary cannot be countenanced by this Court and hence the issues in these appeals can only be answered within the circumscribed limits of the law declared by the Hon'ble Supreme Court.