Ernakulam collector taking court for a ride, says HC

KOCHI:  Pulling up the Ernakulam District Collector in the Kothamangalam church takeover case, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday observed that the collector is taking the court for a ride by not implementing even after a year the directive to take over the church and hand it over to the vicar of the Orthodox faction.Meanwhile, the Central government submitted the name of a competent officer with the CRPF, Thiruvananthapuram, following the court directive to inform its stand on the deployment of central forces for taking over the church.

When the contempt case against the collector came up for hearing, the court observed that the state police had completely failed to assist the district collector in implementing the directive. Pointing out that it has waited patiently for a year to have the directive implemented, the court said the district collector and the police could not be trusted now. The court also rejected the state government request to appoint an advocate commissioner in the case and observed that he cannot do the job of the collector.

When the state government submitted that it will take over the possession of the church, the court asked it to implement the order immediately and to produce the key before the court.The court said it would pass an order in the case within two days. In the meantime, the government was free to take any step required to implement the directive. The court observed orally that it suspects political interference in not implementing the order. It also expressed doubt whether the area where the church is located was declared a containment zone to bypass its order.