Expressing its displeasure once again over the failure of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in submitting its latest status report on the repair work of the Jagamohan (prayer hall) of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, the Orissa High Court on Monday directed the ASI Superintendent to personally appear in the court on November 17 and submit report in the form of an affidavit.
Earlier last month, the High Court had refused to interfere in the technical aspects of the repair work but had made it clear that it would monitor the legal aspect of the work to ensure that the repair is completed soon.
Basing on this observation of the HC, the ASI had provided a time schedule of the work in which it had informed the court that fixing of steel pillars in the prayer hall would be over by November this year.
Accordingly, a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Vineet Saran, while adjudicating the relevant PIl on October 4 this year had asked the ASI to submit its latest status report by November 4. But the ASI failed to do so and, instead, on Monday sought some more time to submit the report.