Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to overhaul the Uniform Land Settlement Policy and introduce amendments to the nearly 70-year-old Shree Jagannath Temple Act, 1955, to better manage the vast properties of the 12th-century shrine in Puri.
Speaking to reporters following a high-level meeting focused on the temple’s vast land holdings and security concerns, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said that the reforms aim to address long-standing issues of encroachment and low revenue from properties owned by Lord Jagannath, while tightening rules for rituals and devotee conduct. “A chunk of these lands has been encroached upon and as a result the Jagannath temple is not receiving any income from it. In many places, poor and landless sevayats have been living on this land for years without any legal right over it. In the process, neither the temple nor the persons occupying the land benefit,” he said.
The temple has over 55,000 acres of land across 24 districts in Odisha, and si
x other states including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar.
The discussion also focused on proper settlement of lands in the name of Lord Jagannath and amendments to the policy for granting land rights to Daitapatis, Niyogs, Sevayats, and Mathas who have been permanently residing there for long periods. The revised policy is expected to benefit long-term resident Sevayats and non-Sevayats while also facilitating smoother revenue collection for the temple with plans afoot to lease them out at the highest possible value to raise revenue as well as take up other renovation work.
The temple corpus fund will increase once the policy is reformed, the minister noted
Amendments to the existing Shree Jagannath Temple Act include establishing sub-committees to ensure smooth conduct of rituals, enforcement of a strict code of conduct for sevayats and visitors and banning items such as mobile phones and cameras from the temple premises were also discussed.
The meeting also stressed public awareness campaigns encouraging devotees to wear appropriate Indian attire during visits to the temple and maintain decorum. Additionally, discussions covered legal action against individuals spreading misinformation or defamatory content about Jagannath culture on social media.
On the occasion, Harichandan unveiled the diary published by the Law Department.