New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on the petitions challenging the digging and construction being undertaken by the Odisha government outside the Jagannath Temple in Puri as part of the heritage corridor.
The SC will pronounce its verdict on Friday.
The petitioners have also challenged the Orissa High Court’s order refusing to restrain the state government from carrying out construction.
A vacation bench comprising Justice B R Gavai and Justice Hima Kohli was hearing two special leave petitions (SPLs) on the matter.
Senior advocate Mahalaxmi Pavani, arguing for one of the petitioners, submitted that as per the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act 1958, the state government needs to obtain NOC from the competent authority for carrying out construction or digging around a protected monument. The state government obtained NOC from the National Monuments Authority (NMA) but the competent authority in this case is the Director or Commissioner of Archeology, Pavani argued, according to LiveLaw.
Advocate Vinay Navare, appearing for the other petitioner, argued, “What’s happening is excavation. These are centuries-old monuments. Also, you can’t give it to someone from outside. Report of officer of the Archaeology department has recorded that construction being carried out is within the prohibited area.”
The petitioners argued that the state government was using heavy excavators to dig more than 30 feet below the ground, exactly adjacent to the western side of Meghanad Pacheri, which is an integral part of the temple, LiveLaw reported.
Appearing for the state government, Ashok Kumar Parija, Advocate General of Odisha, submitted that the authority under the AMASR Act is the NMA and Odisha’s Director (Culture) has been notified as the competent authority. The AG argued that the activities being carried out do not come under the purview of “construction” as per the Act.
The SC could not hear the matter on Tuesday due to a technical difficulty.
Justices Gavai and Kohli said they cannot hear it unless the matter is allotted to the bench by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), LiveLaw reported.
Justice Gavai said that judges hearing matters during vacation have no administrative powers of the CJI to list and allot cases. “We never faced this difficulty in High Courts. In High Courts, a vacation judge has to be judge for all purposes even for administrative purposes, Here, we are controlled by the Registry. If it’s allotted to us, we’re willing to hear it even at 2 pm. Unless it is allotted to us, our hands are tied,” he said while responding to a request for an urgent hearing of the matter.
Justice Gavai further said that it is the prerogative of the CJI to allot cases as the Master of Roster and that the vacation bench cannot assume the administrative powers of the CJI. “We allowed circulation but there’s a technical difficulty, unless Chief allots it to a particular bench, it can’t be,” he added.
