|
Delhi June 16
2005: As we all know the Managing committee Meetings are not
what they used to be. As an institution it was the mainstay of
the Church, has supported the Malankara Metropolitans in times
of crisis and defended the Church against the alien onslaughts.
Now this institution has been reduced to a group of people whose
interests, it seems, are anything other than that of the Church.
The meetings have become very uncontrollable. The members of the
Managing Committee think that they are the law-makers and people
simp believe them. This makes them to shout at the top of their
voice in the meetings as our representatives in Assemblies/
Parliaments do and people to come with placards and bills, as
people would do before Assemblies/ Parliaments. I think the
people need to be informed about the reality.
(1) This unusual phenomenon is perhaps the after-effect of the
verdict of the Supreme Court which has been wrongly interpreted
by some of the people. In the context of that Judgment, the
Supreme Court wanted the new Managing Committee elected by the
Malankara Association with Justice Malimath as the observer to
approve the allotment of Dioceses to the Metropolitans. This
allotting of the Dioceses was only for that occasion. The usual
practice is that the Malankara Metropolitan, the Episcopal Synod
and the Managing Committee work in tandem in allotting the
Dioceses to Metropolitans. This was a very extra ordinary
situation where the Court had asked to convene the Malankara
Syrian Christian Association under an observer to elect the
Malankara Metropolitan and the members of the Managing
Committee. The Court then asked the new Managing Committee to
allot the Dioceses to Metropolitans who owed allegiance to the
Catholicos. It should be mentioned here that this was another
extra ordinary occasion when the Episcopal Synod was practically
not functioning. Though, there were Metropolitans, they were to
be accepted by the Malankara Metropolitan and the Managing
Committee first and the Malankara Metropolitan and the Managing
Committee were to then allot their Dioceses. This is another
extra ordinary situation when the trio i.e., the Malankara
Metropolitan, the Episcopal Synod and the Managing Committee
were not in a position to work in tandem. So, it can be said
that this was the rarest of rare situations. Once, the allotment
of Dioceses was over and the Episcopal Synod has come to
officiate as a responsible body, once again the status quanta
ought to be maintained, each playing the respective role
assigned to them by the Constitution. It cannot be perceived
that the Supreme Court will assign this role exclusively to the
Managing Committee for all times and for all purposes. As
mentioned above, it goes without saying that the Supreme Court
gave that specific direction in that particular context. |
|
(2) The Supreme Court has
approved the 1934 Constitution except for an amendment to
clauses 46 and 71(dealing with the Parish Churches and Parish
Assembles) which have absolutely no mention about the powers of
the Managing Committee, either by way of widening or diminishing
its powers. Hence, the rest of the provisions of the
Constitution remain intact which implies that the Managing
Committee is not vested with more powers than what is envisaged
by the Constitution.
(3) It needs to be reiterated that the ultimate authority is the
Malankara Metropolitan and all decisions pertaining to both
temporal as well as spiritual matters vest with him in
accordance with clause 94 of the Constitution. The Managing
Committee in itself is not competent to take decisions
independently. |
