Kerala High Court Sets Aside Single Bench Order on FIR Against Church Head Syro-Malabar in Land Scam

Kochi, May 22: A division bench of the Kerala High Court today set aside a single bench order which had directed the police to book Syro-Malabar Catholic Church head Cardinal George Alencherry and three others over alleged irregularities in land deals in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Antony Dominic and Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu, said the single bench order "suffers from legal infirmity and deserves to be set aside".

The court said complainant Shine Varghese from Cherthala, who had sought criminal action against the Cardinal and others, had failed to avail alternative remedies including approaching a magistrate court.

The division bench issued the order in response to a plea by the Cardinal against the single bench order. The court said the impugned judgement seems to have heavily relied on the diocese's enquiry report and concluded prima facie, though that a cognisable offence is made out.

"But regrettably, it has missed out on the fundamental jurisdictional issue. It has failed to notice the unseemly haste Shine showed: no sooner had he submitted his complaint that he rushed to the court in 24 hours (after filing the police complaint)," the court said.

The court, however, said, "If there be truth in what they allege, the long arm of the law will surely reach whatever recess the crime lurks in. Their swift race to the High Court alone do we interdict here...nothing more".

The single bench had recently passed the order to register a case on the petition filed by Varghese. The petitioner had moved the court, saying the Ernakulam central police had not lodged a First Information Report (FIR) on his complaint against the Cardinal and others over the land deals.

Besides Alencherry, the others against whom the complaint was lodged are priests Joshy Puthuva and Sebastian Vadakkumpadan and middleman Saju Varghese.

Following the single bench order, the police had registered a case against them. The petitioner had sought the registration of an FIR for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and cheating against the Cardinal and the three others in the sale of land worth crores of rupees belonging to the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.

Alencherry, who is also the major archbishop of the archdiocese, is the first accused in the case, the police said. They were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120b (criminal conspiracy).

Moving the division bench against the single bench order, the Cardinal had said the property transactions the archdiocese had were not in conflict with the applicable laws of the land or canon laws.

Under the canon law, the archbishop has the power and authority to administer properties of the archdiocese. Cardinal Alencherry had also claimed that the writ petition was disposed of by the single bench without issuing any notice to the respondents and serving a copy of the plea.

An opportunity to file a counter affidavit was denied, he said.

"This tantamounts to a violation of natural justice as well as the applicable rules," the Cardinal had submitted. The complaint was filed last month after a church committee, which probed alleged irregularities in financial and land transactions of the archdiocese, said it found numerous instances of violation of canon and civil laws and recommended necessary action against those responsible.

The six-member inquiry committee had also said that Cardinal Alencherry "seems to have fully known and involved" in the alienation and purchase of lands by the archdiocese between April 1, 2015, and November 30, 2017.

The panel, comprising priests, was appointed by Alencherry, who is also Major Archbishop of the archdiocese after some priests and faithful accused him of selling prime land of the archdiocese for "a very low price."

The Syro-Malabar Church has over 30 dioceses in the country and four outside -- in the US, Canada, Australia and Britain -- serving over five million faithful.