Orissa HC Issues Notice To Govt On Amendment Of Shri Jagannath Temple Act

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has issued a notice to the state government seeking reply within four weeks on amendment of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1954.

A division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik issued the notice after hearing a petition filed by one Dilip Kumar Baral. The petitioner alleged that amendment of Section 16 (2) of the Act takes away the power of the government on immovable properties of Lord Jagannath.

He stated that before the amendment, those in occupation or possession of temple land had to get approval of
the Law department for selling, leasing or mortgaging it under uniform policy. After the amendment in January, those in possession of land can get patta (land records) in their names and further sell, transfer or mortgage the land which goes against the interest of the temple.

The amendment decentralised the settlement process by delegating power to officials like the temple managing
committee, chief administrator of Shri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Puri collector and other authorities at the district-level.

As per the earlier records, more than 60,000 acre of Lord Jagannath are spread over 24 districts in the state. But the SJTA has so far received record of 35,000 acre. The remaining lands have been under occupation of different persons
for several years, the petitioner said.

The division bench directed the government to file the counter affidavit specifying the details of the transactions entered into following the amended section. Such transactions would be subject to the outcome of the writ petition, TNIE quoted the bench as saying.