Kerala High Court grants interim relief to Knanaya Catholics who marry outside diocese

The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered that, until the first appellate court finally decides on the matter of expulsion of Knanaya Catholics on marrying outside the diocese, any member of the Kottayam Archeparchy wishing to marry a Catholic outside the diocese shall be issued a vivaha kuri (marriage certificate) without insisting on a letter of relinquishment of that person's membership with the Archeparchy (Knanaya Catholic Naveekarana Samithi v. Metropolitan Archbishop, Archeparchy of Kottayam)..Single judge Justice VG Arun issued the order on an original petition which had challenged the order of the Additional Sessions Court, Kottayam (first appellate court) which had stayed both the operation and execution of the trial court's ruling.The trial court had held that the Kottayam Archeparchy cannot expel members for marrying outside the diocese. The High Court deemed it appropriate to dispose the original petition by modifying the trial court's order in the following manner:If any member of a church under the Kottayam Archeparchy wishes to marry a Catholic from another diocese, he/she can make a request to the respondents (metropolitan Archbishop, Kottayam Arheparchy) for issuance of vivaha kuri or no objection certificate; On receipt of the request, the respondents shall issue the vivaha kuri or no objection certificate without insisting on any letter of relinquishment of that person's membership with the Kottayam Archeparchy; The question whether the person has relinquished his/her membership in the Kottayam Archeparchy on account of the marriage will depend upon and abide by the judgement in the appeal..The Court clarified that the directions issued above is by way of an interim arrangement and without prejudice to the contentions of the parties."I am constrained to restrain from considering those contentions as that would impact the decision in the appeal. All learned counsels are in unison that the judgement in this original petition should not fetter the liberty of the appellant court to decide the questions independently," the Court said..The Court, therefore, directed the first appellate court to dispose of the appeal within a period of three months"The appeal shall be decided uninfluenced by the observations of the impugned order of the appellate court or the observations in the impugned order issued by this court," the Court ordered..On May 25, 2021 a trial court in Kerala had observed that the "compulsive endogamy" practiced by Knanaya Catholics was in violation of the right to marry under Article 21 and Article 25 (freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion) of the Constitution.It had, therefore, restrained the the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Kottayam Archeparchy from expelling Knanaya members on account of marriage to Catholics from other dioceses.This order was challenged before an Additional District Court at Kottayam, which stayed the order's operation and execution..This prompted the petitioners in the instant case, represented by Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj, to approach the High Court challenging the order of the appellate court (Additional District Court).Raj argued that said order is not sustainable as it does not meet the requirements of Order XLI, Rule 5(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure.The Court had found merit in this argument and issued an interim order observing that the Additional District Court did not have sufficient cause to stay the decree of the trial court, especially since the matter involves the curtailment of fundamental rights.The Court had, therefore, kept in abeyance the stay on the trial court ruling which had restrained the expulsion of Knanaya Catholic members for marrying a person from outside the Kottayam Archeparchy..Story to be updated with order.