Battery Cars For Old & Differently Abled, Mobile Toilet For Devotees: Orissa High Court Issues Directions For Smooth Darshan At Alarnath Temple

The Orissa High Court has issued a slew of directions to the Puri District Administration and Lord Alarnath temple committee for smooth and comfortable darshan of Lord Alarnath by lakhs of devotees during the ‘Anasara’, a two-week period when Lord Jagannath is believed to manifest through Lord Alarnath.

Earlier this week, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding crowd management measures at the temple, the Court had asked the district administration to file an affidavit stating the steps taken by it to control the huge crowd and other ancillary facilities arranged by it for devotees.

Accordingly, the Tahsildar of Brahmagiri, Puri filed an affidavit explaining in detail all the facilities arranged and negated the claim that the administration has not taken any effective steps in that regard.

After going through the affidavit and perusing the existing facilities, the Division Bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Murahari Sri Raman deemed it proper to issue the following additional directions to the administration and the temple committee.

1. The ceiling fans installed inside the shade should be thoroughly checked at regular intervals for its safety as there is likelihood of the same being falling over the devotees due to improper installation, lack of maintenance or other defects, thereby causing injury to them.
2. In addition to the ceiling fans, pedestal fan arrangements are to be provided outside the barricade already made at close distance in view of scorching summer heat for the comfort of the devotees during their movement inside the barricade. During movement of devotees in queue, safe distance be ensured for physical comfort and to avoid collision;
3. Separate arrangements are to be made for the early darshan of the deity by the old/physically disabled and differently abled persons/women/children and battery car arrangements should be made from the parking space of the vehicles which is situated at a considerable distance from the temple to the point of separate entry of these categories of devotees and also for their return from the exit point to the parking area;
4. Sale of prasad and eating of prasad by the devotees inside the temple premises is to be restricted/ regulated to prevent gathering of crowd for such purpose for a long time inside the premises and separate arrangement should be made at a place adjacent to the temple;
5. The darshan time of the deity and also the closing time of the darshan on account of performance of different rituals of the deity should be published in some print media and broadcasted in electronic media on day-to-day basis for the information of the devotees in order to facilitate them to visit the temple during the festival as per their convenience;
6. As it was mentioned in the affidavit that the devotees were having darshan of the deity from the Argali area, the same arrangement shall continue till the end of the festival and the administration is required to ensure that no servitor of the temple is allowed to take any devotee beyond the Argali area to have a close darshan of the deity (inside the sanctum sanctorum) particularly during rush hour;
7. Mobile toilet arrangement should be made nearer to the barricade for the convenience of the devotees; and
8. The movement of the devotees inside and outside the temple should be monitored through CCTV in the control room;
9. Civic facilities, administrative and security measures as would be necessary should be organized immaculately by the District Administration for comfortable darshan of Lord Alarnath by the devotees.

Accordingly, the writ petition was disposed of.

Case Title: Madhusudan Pujapanda v. State of Odisha & Ors.

Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 18116 of 2023

Order Dated: June 08, 2023

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Laxmidhar Dash, Advocate

Counsel for the Respondents: Mrs. Suman Pattnaik, Addl. Govt. Advocate

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ori) 67

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