Puri: The judgement of the Supreme Court that the amrutamanohi properties, vested in favour of the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri by virtue of the provisions of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 cannot be called ‘Trust Estates’.
The court consequently struck down the first part of the proviso of Section 2(oo) of the Orissa Estates Abolition (OEA) Act, 1951, which pertains to the properties of Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri.
The judgement was pronounced by a division bench of the apex court of Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice C Nagappan on Saturday. The bench also quashed notification issued by the state government in this regard.
As per Section 5 of the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955 “Notwithstanding anything in any other law for the time being in force or custom, usage or contract, Sanad, deed or engagement, the administration and the governance of the Temple and its endowments shall vest in a Committee called the Shri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee constituted as such by the State Government, and it shall have the rights and privileges in respect thereof as provided in Section 33”.
Reacting to the judgement of the apex court, Anam Dalei, manager of Raghavdas Mutt, said gross injustice has been meted out to the mutt.
“Raghavdas Mutt is closely associated with Shri Jagannath Temple as it has been providing all services to the Lords. There is no break in any rituals of the Lords by the mutt. We had given the details to the Supreme Court in writing about the services of the mutt to the temple. But the apex court has not considered our case,” he lamented.
In his reaction, manager of Dakhinaparswa Mutt, Shyam Sundar Maharaj wondered as to how the Supreme Court Judges could realise that the OEA Act, framed by the government, is only for the public and not for the Shri Jagannath Temple.
According to advocate Ashok Das, the apex court, while ruling that the Orissa Estates Abolition Act will be not applicable to the property of Shri Jagannath Temple, has struck down Section 3(a) and Section 2(oo) of the OEA Act.
“With the judgement of the apex court, there will be some irregularities,” he noted.
“If the mutt fails to provide service, it will be deprived of its property which will be transferred to the Shri Jagannath Temple. But it has been found that the mutts, through the OEA Act, have amassed huge wealth by registering the land of the Lords either in their name or in the name of other individuals and later selling it to the people. The property of Lord Jagannath will be there as it is now. This is the decision of the Supreme Court. This Act was in force earlier. As long as the mutts provide services to the Lords, they will enjoy the property otherwise they will be deprived of the properties”, said senior advocate Uma Ballav Mohapatra.