The court affirmed that the supreme authority of a church can decide on mergers under its constitution, rejecting lower court findings that misinterpreted these powers.

J U D G M E N T

Plaintiffs are the appellants herein. The concurrent findings of the trial court in three suits, OS Nos.19/2008, 290/2008 and 65/2009 on the files of the Munsiff’s Court, Ranny, and the first appellate court are questioned in the present second appeals. OS Nos.19/2008 and 65/2009 are for permanent prohibitory injunction whereas OS No.290/2008 is for a declaration. The facts leading to the dismissal of OS No.290/2008 will be dealt with by this Court in this judgment, and once the issues raised therein are answered, the other suits become inconsequential.

2. The 1^st plaintiff in OS No.290/2008 is the Episcopal Church formed in the year 1961 with a written constitution, and the 2^nd plaintiff is one of its laity. The 1^st defendant was the presbyter and defendants 2 to 10 were the laity and the 11th defendant is a retired clergy of St.Thomas Evangelical Church of India (Fellowship). Defendants 1 to 10 formed a trust in the name and style Evangelical Fellowship Missions of India on 21.02.2008 as per trust deed No.20/2008 of the Perumkadavila Sub Registry Office. St.Thomas Evangelical Church of India is an episcopal church which was formed in the year 1961, and during the 1960s, there arose a difference of opinion in the 1^st plaintiff church, and one of the factions formed a society in the year 1971 in the name and style of St.Thomas Evangelical Fellowship of India. In that connection, several suits were filed by the rival factions and those suits were settled in the year 2000 in SA No.851/1990 before this Court and as per the terms of the compromise, the parishes associated with St. Thomas Evangelical Fellowship of India were allowed to function as St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (Fellowship) and suitable constitutional changes were made. In the year 2004, certain negotiations were made with an attempt to merge both the churches, and the supreme authority decided for merger. But the decision was not placed before the then Bishop, and hence it was not materialised. On 16.03.2007, the Sabha Council of St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India met and appointed a subcommittee to explore the possibilities of a merger and on 22.05.2007, the Sabha Council of St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (Fellowship) also in turn appointed a subcommittee. After several deliberations, the joint committee prepared a draft proposal for the amalgamation of the two churches. On 29.10.2007, the Sabha Secretary of St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (Fellowship) issued a notice for convening the meeting of the Pradhinidhi Sabha for adopting the Sabha Council's decision and various clauses formulated for merger. The Pradhinidhi Sabha again met on 30.11.2007 and decided to merge with St.Thomas Evangelical Church of India and the decision was approved by the then Bishop, who issued a circular dated 1.12.2007 to all the parishes under the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (Fellowship). Another special circular dated 07.12.2007 signed by the three Bishops of the two churches was caused to be circulated to be read in all parishes, calling upon the laity to participate in the merger meeting, which was to be held on 25.12.2007. Later, the meeting was held on 25.12.2007, and a copy of the merger declaration was published in the Malayala Manorama D