Orissa High Court: In a writ petition filed praying that the authorities concerned ensure a smooth management of the crowd at the Shree Jagannath Temple, the division bench of S.K. Sahoo and
M.S. Raman, JJ. has directed the State to file an affidavit indicating the steps taken by the Puri District Administration for crowd management and smooth darshan of the deity, at Alarnath temple during Anavasara Period.
The petitioner stated that Alarnatha Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu and located in Odisha, near Puri. It becomes crowded during the kirshnapaksha of Ashadha, after the Snana Yatra when devotees are not allowed to see the central icon of Jagannath in Puri temple. After the ceremonial bath on the eve of “Snana Purnima”, the siblings deities Lord Balabhadra, Lord Jagannath and Devi Subhadra are believed to be down with fever, and they returned to Anasara Ghara in Shree Jagannath Temple . This is also called the Anasara or the Anavasara period. Instead of having darshan in the Puri temple, devotees believe that Jagannath during this time manifests as Alarnath Dev, at the Alarnath temple.At that time, it is believed that Lord Jagannath is manifested in Alarnatha Temple, as a result it becomes very crowded. Thus, the present petition has been filed. for proper crowd management, arrangement of darshan from Argali, providing facilities and maintaining law and order for the huge crowd gathering during religious gathering of large numbers of devotees in Alarnath Temple, The Court directed the State to file an affidavit indicating the steps taken by the District Administration to ensure a smooth darshan of the deity, which had commenced on 05-06-2023 and is expected to last for two weeks. The Court also directed the District Administration and the Temple Administration regarding the provision made for safe and smooth entry and exit from the temple and to take regulatory measures for the same. It was further directed that a responsible Government Official at the helm of the administration should file the affidavit on the next date.
The matter will next be taken up on 08-06-2023.
[Madhusudan Pujapanda v. State of Odisha, 2023 SCC OnLine Ori 2586, Order Dated 06-06-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: Advocate Laxmidhar Dash;
For the Respondent:Government Advocate Suman Pattnaik.
