The Orissa High Court on Wednesday left it to the discretion of police administration in allowing the Puja Committees of Cuttack city to make clay idols of the deities for the next month’s Durga Puja taller than the stipulated height of four feet after physically verifying the structures at the puja pandals.
The court asked the Puja Committees to apply to the City DCP mentioning the present status of the construction of the idols and their heights. “The police would then inspect the puja pandals, verify the status and allow the committees to observe Durga Puja if everything is in order,” informed senior advocate Ashok Mohapatra, counsel of a Puja Committee.Notably, idols measuring seven feet and more are generally erected by major Puja Committees.
Following a massive public outcry over the Government’s decision on the height of the idols, the Puja Committees had moved the court stating that the idol-making process had already started before the Government notification came.
The committees also maintained that they have already made several gold and silver ornaments for deities and altering height of the idols at this stage would render ornaments useless. The court’s Wednesday decision followed failure of a discussion between puja committees and city DCP on Tuesday.