By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR/PURI: All Eyes on Supreme Court. The petitions’ hearing by Justice S Ravindra Bhat is scheduled to take place through videoconferencing at Virtual Court no. 3 on Monday. At least 16 petitions filed in the Supreme Court seeking partial modification in the court’s order of disallowing Rath Yatra in Puri.
The Supreme Court’s ruling against holding of Rath Yatra this year came on June 17 on a petition by NGO Odisha Vikas Parishad seeking to cancel the festival in view of the unprecedented situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has also appealed to the apex court to review its order.VHP secretary general Milind Parande is of the view that the festival can be conducted with the chariots being drawn by elephants and with mechanical assistance or a required number of Covid-19-negative servitors of the temple.
Puri Sankarcharya Swami Nischilananda Saraswati said on Sunday the court stay on RathYatra is a premeditated scheme of the authorities concerned. BJP State president Samir Mohanty said the Government should abide by the advices of the Sankaracharya and the Gajapati Maharaja on holding of the Rath Yatra.PCC president Niranjan Patnaik said the Government should take alternative steps, if possible, in view of the Supreme Court order.
Meanwhile, the temple management committee on Sunday decided to observe the Agyanmala ritual at the three already-constructed chariots on Monday, a day before the Rath Yatra scheduled on Tuesday. Committee member Ramachandra Dasmohapatra told reporters that the Government can now promulgate an ordinance to hold Rath Yatra.
“The State Government will take favourable action as legally permissible on the request of the Gajapati Maharaj when the writ petition W.P.(C) No. 571 of 2020 is taken up for hearing before the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” a statement issued by the Law Department said. “It may be noted that the stand of the State Government in the hearing before Hon’ble Supreme Court on 18.06.2020 was primarily related to thousands of Ratha Jatras taking place all over the State,” the statement said while clarifying that the state had no intention to stay the festival in Puri.
The State Government said that Ratha Jatra involve lakhs of people, and organized almost in every Gram Panchayat of the state. “More than 5 lakh people of Odisha have returned back to the state since May. Most of them are likely to complete their quarantine period by the end of June,” the State Government said.
With Puri King Gajapati Maharaj Dibya Singh Deb and Puri Seer Swami Nischalananda Saraswati continuing their attack on Naveen Patnaik led Government in Odisha for its failure to present the right picture of Puri in Supreme Court for holding the Ratha Jatra of Lord Jagannath on June 23 and coupled with more vigour trolling in social media for deputing high paid Advocates likes Harish Salve, the BJD Boss , who is in good book of PM Modi, was on Sunday came under attack from Sangha Pariwar with Saffron Party’s National Spokesperson Dr Sambit Patra filing an application for clarification/modification of earlier order of the highest court of the land followed Party’s Puri MLA Jayant Sarangi urged Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for early filing of applications in the Apex court for modification of its order.