The State Government on Thursday submitted in the High Court the entire report of Justice PK Mohanty Commission that had made several recommendations to ensure safety and security of lakhs of devotees visiting the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri throughout the year.
While the commission report was submitted in a sealed cover, the State Government failed to submit the action taken report (ATR) on it as was asked by the High Court last month while adjudicating over a PIl concerning the issue. Asking the Government to positively submit the ATR within a week, the division bench of Justices AK Rath and BR Sarangi posted the matter to be taken up again on July 18.
Retired Judge of Orissa High Court Justice PK Mohanty was appointed by the State Government to head the one-man Judicial Commission to probe into the November 2006 stampede inside the Puri temple in which at least six devotees had died. Justice Mohanty was also asked to make recommendations by which the safety and security of the devotees could be ensured.
While Justice Mohanty had submitted its report along with the recommendations in the year 2009, the same was tabled in the State Assembly and later accepted by the State Government. However, alleging that the Government has completely ignored the recommendations of the Judicial Commission, social and political activist Chitta Ranjan Mohanty had filed the PIl questioning the Government’s motive.
Mohanty in his petition had alleged that due to improper security management by the State Government, the historical marvel of the country is now under the scanner of terrorists. Annexing a newspaper report, the petitioner had referred to recent video clippings in social media showing aerial views of the temple and the temple town.
The petition too had questioned about the “mismanagement” and “maladministration” of the temple administration in disciplining the priests and servitors of the temple for which there have been lots of criticisms from both inside and outside the State.