HC Unhappy With ‘Language & Tenor’ Of Twin City Police Commissioner’s Durga Idol Order

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has objected to language and tenor of Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi while refusing to grant permission for idol over 4 feet height during Durga Puja in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammed Rafiq and Justice BR Sarangi termed his interpretation of its September 16 and subsequent action as ‘amounting to over-reach of the HC order’, the TNIE reported.

While refusing to interfere with the norms fixed by the state authorities for holding Puja this year, the court on September 16 had asked the committees who had already started construction of the idols of more than four feet to approach the police commissioner for permission. Sarangi, however, refused any leniency and directed them to stick to the height restriction in accordance with the September 10 government guidelines.

The HC has posted the final hearing on the fresh petition of Balubazar Puja Committee to October 9. It also allowed Advocate General Ashok Kumar Parija to file a fresh affidavit of the police commissioner’s apology. The court had observed that the one tendered in the present affidavit ‘cannot be termed as unconditional’.