IMPORTANT POINT
1934 constitution is valid, not in violation of Articles 25 and 26, and in consonance with AIR 1959 SC 31 and 1995 Supp (4) SCC 286 and (2017) 15 SCC 333.

JUDGMENT

R. Banumathi, J.

Suit O.S. No.187 of 1977 was filed by appellant No.1/Metropolitan of Quilon Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and appellant No.2/Vicar appointed by him for St. Mary’s Church, Kattachira. Defendants/respondents in the suit represent the Parishioners of the Church. Plaintiffs/appellants inter alia prayed for a declaration that the Quilon Metropolitan and the Vicars appointed by him have exclusive right to conduct religious services in the plaint church, Cemetery and Kiurisumthotty and prayed for prohibitory injunction restraining the defendants and others who do not obey the plaintiffs/appellants from entering the plaint church and plaint schedule properties.

2. Case of the appellants is that as per Ext.-A3 (original of which is Ext.-B19) assignment-cum-gift deed dated 29.06.1972, the first defendant C.K. Koshy assigned the plaint properties along with the church and cemetery etc. situated thereon, to the Metropolitan, Quilon Diocese and that they are entitled to conduct religious services and to manage the church and its properties. The Parishioners who question such authority are not entitled to hold any office as members of the Church Committee or to enter the church.

3. Defendants/respondents who are said to be the representatives of the Parishioners contended that the Church was founded with the object of conducting religious services by religious dignitaries who possess the spiritual grace transmitted from the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, for the benefit of the Parishioners. The church and its properties constitute a trust and can be used only for the purpose for which it was founded. The respondents/defendants contended that the plaintiffs/appellants have repudiated and defied the spiritual powers of the Patriarch and the appellants/plaintiffs are not entitled to conduct any religious services in the plaint church. According to them, the plaint church is administered under the Constitution framed by the Parishioners marked as Ext.-B9 dated 23.01.1959 and no priest can function in the church without the consent of the Parishioners.

4. The Parishioners/respondents have filed a separate suit in O.S. No.17 of 1976 challenging the validity of Ext.-A3-Sale-cum-Gift Deed (dated 29.06.1972) in favour of Quilon Metropolitan. On the same grounds taken by them in the other suit, they alleged that as beneficiaries of the Church and as its Managing Committee Members, they are entitled to see that its properties are not lost. They prayed for a decree declaring that Ext.-A3-Sale-cum-Gift Deed is ab initio void and for a perpetual injunction restraining the Metropolitan from implementing any of the provisions in the said document.

5. The trial court vide common judgment dated 06.03.1986 dismissed the suit O.S. No.17 of 1976 filed by the respondents and decreed the appellant’s suit O.S. No.187 of 1977, declaring that the appellants have the right to conduct religious services in the plaint church and cemetery. The trial court granted permanent injunction restraining the respondents/defendants and persons who do not obey the plaintiffs/appellants from entering the church and the plaint schedule properties and conducting religious services, and obstructing others who obey the plaintiffs/appellants. The respondents/defendants were also restrained from obstructing the appellants in completing the construction of the Kattachira church building or attending to its repairs.

6. Being aggrieved, the respondents/defendants filed appeals A.S. Nos.140 and 142 of 1986 in O.S. No.187 of 1977 before the High Court of Kerala challenging the common judgment dated 06.03.1986. The Single Judge dismissed both the appeals and held as under:-

1. Various clauses of Ext. A3 gift deed dated 29.06.1972 make it clear that the executant Koshy gave the assignment-cum-gift in favour of the Quilon Metropolitan intending that it may be treated as Bhadrasanam properties. Ext. A3 also provided that the Metropolitan may directly a