Show-Cause Reply Of 4 Sevayats Cannot Be Made Public: SJTA

Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Friday said that the reply of the four sevayats to the show-cause notice on the gross irregularities in the Brahma Parivartan rituals during the Nabakalebara festival in 2016 cannot be made public.

Talking to mediapersons here, chief administrator, SJTA, Pradipta Mohapatra said that 10 Daitapati sevayats, including a Maharana sevayat, were served show-cause notice on November 14 and asked to furnish reply within 15 days.

“Of the 10 sevayats, four have submitted their reply to the SJTA. Considering the sensitivity of the reply of the sevayats, the Temple Managing Committee has decided not to make their reply public,” Mohapatra added.

He said the SJTA had earlier informed the media on September 27 that as per the decision taken by the Temple Managing Committee, the report of the Brahma Parivartan fiasco cannot be made public since it is a sensitive issue. Even the report will not be given to anyone under the Right to Information Act.

According to the temple rituals, the Brahma Parivartan of the Lords were to be performed by the midnight of June 15. Instead, the rituals could be completed only in the afternoon the following day.

The inordinate delay in the rituals of the Lords had evoked countrywide uproar while the Opposition had come down heavily on the gross inaction of the state government.

Notably, the former SJTA chief administrator Suresh Chandra Mohapatra had submitted the Brahma Parivartan fiasco report to the SJTA in August 2017.