KOCHI: A division bench of the High Court on Tuesday reserved the judgment in connection with the appeal filed by Cardinal George Alencherry and others against the single bench order for registering an FIR against the cardinal and two other priests in the controversial land deals in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. The division bench headed the chief justice has completed the hearing of arguments by the counsel for the cardinal and others in the case.
Counsel for the cardinal has submitted that the order of the single bench is not legally sustainable as it relied on a petition filed by the complainant based on rumours. He also pointed out that there was no scope for filing a criminal case in connection with the land deal and the lower courts have rejected the demand. The order to register a criminal case in a civil matter is the violation of the directives of the Supreme Court and against the principles of natural justice.
He pointed out that filing a petition in the High Court immediately after filing a complaint with the police is a deliberate attempt to misuse the judiciary. The single bench had ordered to register an FIR on March 6 on the petition filed by Cherthala native Shine Varghese and others stating that the Ernakulam Central police failed to act on the complaint. The complaint submitted to the police had called for registering a case against the Cardinal, Fr Joshy Puthuva, Fr Sebastian Vadakkumpadan and real estate dealer Saju Varghese for cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust. The division bench had stayed the single bench order and further proceedings in connection with the case a few days ago.
