New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday directed the state government to depute a chief administrator for managing the affairs of Shri Jagannath Temple at Puri and passed a slew of directions for enabling peaceful ‘darshan’ by devotees and providing amenities for them.
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said “considering the overall situation and the facts, we direct the state government to depute full time Chief Administrator, not by way of additional charge forthwith”.
A large number of pilgrims visit the temple every day and it is a pious duty to provide proper ‘darshan’ in systematic manner and to take care of the aged, the infirm and children, the top court said.
“We direct the temple administration and the chief administrator including the state government to prepare a roadmap with the help of experts for having proper ‘darshan’ by the devotees/pilgrims and to implement it effectively and to ensure that there is no commotion so that everybody is able to have ‘darshan’ peacefully without any obstruction by anybody,” the bench also comprising Justices MR Shah and S Ravindra Bhat said. The bench said it is for the experts to suggest what system can be devised without disturbances to the rituals to be performed in temple and thereafter management committee and administration have to consider it.
“There should not be any room for any such incident in the sanctum sanctorum and other temples situated around. If such incidents are taking place, it has to be dealt with firm hand and there should not be any room for such incidents. Unlawful elements responsible for doing such acts have to be removed out of the premises at all costs,” the bench said.
It directed the temple administration and the temple police to ensure that there are dedicated personnel to tighten security inside the temple, to ensure that no such incident takes place in the temples and no misbehavior is meted out to women.
“… temple authorities and the police are directed to take strict action to avoid such incidents,” the bench said. The SC passed nearly two dozen directions after considering reports of temple committee, administrator, amicus curiae, ex-Governor of Orissa BD Sharma, Jagadguru Shankaracharya and erstwhile ruler Gajapathi and others.