The Orissa High Court on Thursday completed hearing on a writ petition challenging the idol height restrictions of the StateGovernment and reserved its verdict, which is likely to be pronouncedon Friday. A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar heard the petition.
Meanwhile, the Mahanagar Puja Committee and the Cuttack CityPeace Committee, which have written letters to Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik to have a relook at the restrictions, decided to wait for Friday to chalk out their next courses of action.The Government, in view of the pandemic, has restricted the height of the idols to four feet. The Government has also ordered to have the puja rituals performed under the curtains at the mandaps.
BJD leader and Mahanagar Puja Committee secretary Pravat Tripathy said the committee has already urged the Chief Minister to reconsider the restrictions. Local MP and senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said the puja committees should wait for the Chief Minister’s decision.