Except the required Sevaks and Sevayats for the occasion, no one else would be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum of lord Jagannath Temple at Puri to have the Nabajauban Darshan of the sibling deities on Friday.” This was ordered by the Odisha High Court on Thursday as an interim measure while adjudicating a PIl on the controversial orders of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA).
A Division Bench of Justices Indrajit Mahanti and DP Choudhury also ordered the State Government to provide adequate security around the temple on the day to ensure that the orders of the High Court are properly implemented. “The High Court also ordered for installation of CCTVs at the entry and exit points of the temple on Friday and the footages of the same should be deposited in the court for scrutiny,” informed the petitioner’s counsel Dr Ashok Mohapatra, who is also the president of the Odisha High Court Bar Association.
The SJTA last month decided to ban public Darshan of the deities after they recuperate from a temporary illness, which is called Nabajauban Darshan. The decision was taken on the pretext that it would not be possible to control the crowd and rituals of the Rath Yatra on the following day would be delayed.
This decision of the SJTA was challenged in the High Court by the petitioner stating that the devotees could not be deprived of an age-old tradition and practice. The Government, however, in an affidavit had endorsed the decision of the SJTA, saying the same ritual was also banned during the 1996 Nabakalebar Rath Yatra after the disturbances witnessed in the 1977 Nabakalebar Rath Yatra.
While the matter remained thus, the SJTA on Monday came up with yet another controversial announcement, saying that along with the servitors, their family members and some VIPs would be allowed inside the temple to have the Nabajauban Darshan. This was, however, vehemently opposed by the petitioner’s advocate in the court, following which the court passed the interim order giving a jolt to the SJTA.