The Orissa High Court on Friday dismissed the writ petition which had challenged the State Government’s order of August 9, wherein the Government, among others, has ordered that the height of the idols during the various pujas at mandaps shall not exceed four feet in view of the ongoing pandemic.
The court had reserved its verdict on Thursday after completing hearing. Observing that the court is of the view that no case has been made out for modifying the conditions in the Government order, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar said that only for the petitioner puja committee, the height of the idol should not exceed four feet. The court, accordingly, dismissed the petition filed by Cuttack’s Balubazaar Puja Committee. Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate PitambarAcharya had on Thursday argued that the idol size has nothing to do with the spread of Covid and added that limiting the idol height has hurt the religious sentiments of the people of Cuttack.
On the other hand, the Government counsel argued that relaxing a restriction for just one puja committee would trigger similar demands by other committees across the State and it would be difficult for the Government to strictly enforce the measures against the pandemic.