ORDER

This order may be read in contination of the Judgment dated June 20, 1995. Inasmuch as the Malankara Association was vested control over the religious and communal affairs of the entire Malankara Christian community, it was held desirable and necessary that the Association must "truly and genuinely reflect the will of the said community". For ensuring it, it was observed : "its composition must be so structured as to represent the entire spectrum of the community. A powerful body having control over both spiritual and communal affairs of the Malankara Church should be composed in a reasonable and fair manner." It was held that judged from the above angle, clause (68) of the 1984 Constitution cannot be said to be a fair one, inasmuch as the said clause provided for representation Parish Church-wise. We took note of the contention urged on behalf of the Patriarch group that with a view to obtain majority in the Association, the Catholicos group has created a number of new Parish Churches with very small membership and that giving equal representation to all Parish Churches irrespective of the strength of their membership is neither fair nor does it ensure a fair and proper representation of the Community in the Association. It was held that it is necessary to substitute clause (68) (now clause (71)) andother relevant clauses of the Constitution to achieve the aforesaid objective which would also affirm the democratic principle, which appears to be one of the basic tenets of this Church. Accordingly, we direct both the parties as well as the Rule Committee (mentioned in clause (120) of the Constitution) to place before this Court within three months from today draft amendments to the Constitution". It was observed that after perusing the said proposals, the Court will make appropriate directions.

2. Accordingly, both parties have placed before us their respective proposals. Some other parties too have placed their proposals. The proposals put forward by the Patriarch group seek to amend a large number of clauses in the Constitution which was not the intention behind the above direction. The objective was to amend only clause (68) and other clauses to ensure the aforementioned objective.

3. It is brought to our notice that there are two clauses in the Constitution which necessarily have to be amended if the aforementioned objective has to be attained. They are clauses (71) and (46) (re-numbered clauses). They read as follows :

"Article 46 : The Vicar or if inconvenient for him, one of the Assistant Priests deputed by the Vicar and two laymen elected by every Parish assembly in a Diocese shall be members of the Diocesan Assembly. Their term of office shall be three years.

Article 71 : A priest and two laymen elected by each Parish assembly and the members of the existing Managing Committee shall be members of the Association."

We may now set out the amendments as proposed by the Catholicos group and Patriarch group :

As Proposed by the Catholicos GroupArticle 71 The following shall be the members of the Association i.e., (a) members of the existing Managing Committee. (b) a priest from each Parish elected by the Parish Assembly.(c) (i) two laymen elected by the Parish Assembly of each of those Parishers whereof the number of families are upto 400; (ii) three laymen elected by the Parish Assembly of each of those families are between 401 and 800; (iii) four laymen elected by the Parish Assembly of each of those Partishes whereof the number of families are between 801 and 1200; (iv) five laymen elected by the Parish Assembly of each of those Parishes whereof the number of families exceed 1200. As Proposed by the Patriarch GroupArticle 71(1) All men and women who are members of the Malankara Church, are not less than the age of eighteen years and are members of a Parish Assembly in Malankara (Kerala) shall be members of the Malankara Association.(2) The following p