Manarcad not Malankara church: court

Munsiff court says it should be governed under a constitution codified in 1958

In a major development, the Additional Munsiff Kottayam court on Thursday ruled that the St. Mary’s Jacobite Syrian Church, Manarcad, was not part of the Malankara church and it should be governed under a constitution codified in 1958. According to Anil D. Kartha, one of the counsels who represented the church committee, the court dismissed a suit filed by two individuals seeking injunction on the entry of Jacobite priests into the church and its cemetery for carrying out sacraments. The court further observed that the Manarcad church was not part of the Malankara church constitution of 1934 and, hence, the Supreme Court order on the K.S. Varghese case of 2017 was not binding for it.