Kerala High Court Closes Archbishop Pamplany's Plea Over Alleged Trespass At St. Mary's Basilica As 'Infructuous'

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas passed the order, making it clear that the dismissal of the writ petition would not prejudice the rights of any party in the civil disputes pending between them.

The Archbishop, who is the Vicar of the Major Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, had approached the High Court seeking a writ of mandamus directing the police authorities to discharge their statutory obligation under Section 38(1) of the Kerala Police Act by preventing what was alleged to be an ongoing act of criminal trespass by certain respondents and their supporters inside St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica.

The Court had earlier, with the consent of all parties, referred the matter to mediation by appointing Justice T.R. Ramachandran Nair (Retd.), former Judge of the Kerala High Court, as mediator.

The mediator held discussions on multiple occasions. However, the mediation ultimately failed. The report submitted before the court recorded that, in view of the stand taken by the petitioner, the parties were unable to arrive at a mutually acceptable settlement, making an amicable resolution impossible.

When the matter was taken up on Monday, counsel for the petitioner submitted that a memo had been filed stating that the writ petition had become infructuous and that no further relief was being sought.

Counsel for the respondent requested the court to ensure that the dismissal of the writ petition would not affect the various civil proceedings already pending between the parties.

Accepting the petitioner's submission, the Court observed that the petitioner, being the master of the proceedings, was entitled to state that the relief sought had become unnecessary. Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed as infructuous.

The Court clarified that the dismissal of the writ petition would have no bearing on the disputes pending before competent civil courts. The court expressly held that neither the dismissal of the writ petition nor its observation that the matter had become infructuous would prejudice the rights of any party to pursue their claims in the pending civil proceedings.

Case Title: Mar Joseph Pamplany v State of Kerala and Ors.

Case No: WP(C) 2346/ 2026

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 416

Counsel for Petitioner: Kurian George Kannanthanam (Sr.), Tony George Kannanthanam, Thomas George, Ebee Antony, Ajith George Koola, Sivashankar Panicker