No flying zone: HC asks Centre, State to reply

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court today asked the State and Central government along with five other respondents to reply on the PIL seeking no flying zone over Jagannath temple permanently and the Grand road (Bada danda) temporarily during Ratha Yatra.

The court asked them to submit their reply within two weeks.

Social activist and lawyer Nishikant Mishra filed the PIL seeking judicial intervention into the demand for no flying zone. He, in his petition, has urged the court to direct the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to take immediate steps in this regard.

As the DGCA had turned down State's request citing that ministry of Civil Aviation had taken a policy decision not to create any other ‘no flying zone’, the petitioner questioned that why 12-century shrine is excluded from no flying zone while Taj Mahal in Agra, Thirumalla Venkateswar Temple in Tirupati,and Tower of Silence in Mumbai are coming under the ‘no flying zone'.

Mishra alleged in his petition that no measures have been taken by the government to prevent possible terror attack in view of a video clipping that went viral in the social media last year showing an aerial view of the temple.