Puri : Ranjit Kumar, the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae for Puri Temple has held a series of meeting with various stakeholders soon after he arrived, here on Saturday.
Ranjit Kumar, who would look into the affairs of the Jagannath Temple in Puri and suggest reforms, held a meeting with Temple Managing Committee chairman and Puri Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb, servitors, district administration, police administration, and Shree Jagannath Temple Administration.
The Puri Gajapathi told the amicus curiae that there is a need for major reforms in the functioning of three aspects – temple administration, sevayats and religious practices at the Puri shrine.
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“I have told the amicus curiae that if the three aspects were taken care of, it will become easier to implement other reforms,” Gajapati told reporters soon after the meeting was over. Stating that the state government has taken over the temple administration from 196, he pointed out that while things changed for the better within two years in Lord Tirupati and Vaishno Devi temples after being taken over by the Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir governments, respectively, there has been no such development in Puri Temple.
The chief administrator for the temple, PK Mohapatra, said that on the basis of the opinion of all stakeholders, the amicus curiae will prepare a comprehensive report and submit it to the apex court. The court after examining the report, will hear the case on February 27, 2019.
The amicus curiae said that all the arrangements were satisfactory in Puri Srimandir but there was scope for improvement.
Ahead of the amicus curiaes visit, his assistant and senior Supreme Court lawyer Priya Hingorani had arrived in Puri on February 20 and held meetings with the temple administration and servitors on the apex courts 12-point reforms proposals for Lord Jagannath Temple.
