The Jalandhar district administration is in a fix on allowing the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS) to hold its congregation on December 14 at Nurmahal ashram — just a day before the expiry of deadline for the cremation of the “frozen godman”.
The senior functionaries believed that as of now, they have little grounds to prevent the DJJS conclave, and have decided to adopt the wait and watch policy till the matter comes up for hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court again on December 12.
The High Court would hear the DJJS’s appeal to put its December 1 order — directing cremation of Ashutosh Maharaj’s body — in abeyance for 30 days.
Even as there are no confirmed reports that the five-member committee, constituted by the High Court, have so far met to discuss the issue, sources said Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav on Monday met the senior administrative officials of the Punjab Government.
High Court has ruled that Maharaj’s body would be cremated by a committee, comprising Jalandhar District Magistrate, Senior Superintendent of Police, Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Chief Medical Officer and the Sub Divisional Magistrate concerned.
It has been learnt that the district administration is currently focusing on calling off the December 14 conclave by the DJJS. For the time being, the administration is “closely monitoring” the situation.
“We are closely monitoring the situation as of now. We don’t want December 14 congregation to take place. But we don’t know how to stop them as they are going to hold the event inside the ashram. We are as of now waiting for the next hearing in the High Court,” a senior district administration official said, requesting anonymity.
Moreover, the district administration has maintained that the 15-day deadline of the high Court would expire on December 18, and not on December 15 as the committee has received the orders on December 3, and the orders clearly mentioned that time would start “from the date of receiving the orders”.
“We would hold another meeting of district officials and after analysing the things and the state of affairs that time, we would decide on the next course of action,” said the official.