A meeting of the temple management committee on Saturday decided that the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) would implement the direction of the Supreme Court on collection of donations at the shrine and provide necessary information to the District and Sessions Judge.
SJTA Chief Administrator, Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said discussions were held on how the apex court’s directive on donations would be carried out.
“The managing committee meeting also discussed about the affidavit to be submitted before the apex court,” he said. The SJTA has asked the servitors’ bodies not to collect donations from devotees,” he added.
“Besides, the committee approved a proposal to instal 23 more CCTV cameras in the temple premises and bring other temples in the Shreemandir premises under surveillance,” he informed.
Besides, arrangements for smooth conduct of the annual Rath Yatra on July 14 were also discussed at the meeting.
In reply to a query regarding the missing Ratna Bhandar key issue, Mohapatra said, “As the State Government has set up a judicial commission, the temple managing committee decided to wait for the probe panel’s findings and would take steps subsequently.”
The temple managing committee also decided to constitute a panel with Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb, the SJTA Chief Administrator and the Puri district Collector and SP as members to hold talks with the Shankaracharya on allegations of accidental transfer of Govardhan Pith land to the Shreemandir records.