The Indic Collective Trust has expressed its deep shock and anguish at the recent events surrounding the demolition of heritage structures around the Jagannath Temple at Puri.
Speaking to mediapersons here, Ravilochan Iyengar of the trust said the act of demolishing such centuries old structures is blatantly against the letter and spirit of the Places of Worship Act of 1991.
Dr Biswajit Mohanty said that in demolishing the structures, the unelected officials, in their high handedness have trampled upon the rights under Article 26 of the devotees of various denominations.
Anil Dhir condemned the strong arming tactics employed by the Government officials, with regard to their treatment of Ramanuja Das of Emar Mutt.
Meanwhile, hearing a writ petition filed by the Indic Collective on behalf of the Mahants of Punjabi Mutt, Radhaballabha Mutt and followers of Vaishnava Sampradaya challenging the demolition drive in Puri, the Supreme Court has acknowledged the validity of the concerns and assured that it would not pass any order endorsing the demolition.
The court has also granted liberty to the petitioners to challenge the demolition drive before the Orissa High Court.
The forum meanwhile demanded criminal proceedings under Places of Worship Act against those involved in the demolition of the structures so far in the pilgrim town.
Besides, it demanded compensatory and punitive damages to those mutts that have been affected, rebuilding of demolished structures, renovation of other heritage structures, removal of encroachments (commercial or otherwise) within the larger Temple complex and temporary structures to be erected within the larger temple complex which will allow displaced people belonging to the three mutts to live and discharge their daily religious duties.
It also demanded a sizeable corpus fund to be set up to compensate the Mahants of the demolished mutts.