Ratha Yatra Committee, Bhatli vs Government Of Odisha And Others

These matters are taken up by video conferencing mode.

A common challenge in all these writ petitions is to the order dated 10th June, 2021 issued by the Office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC),

Government of Odisha whereby in acknowledgment of the State of Odisha stlll being in the grip of the second wave of the Ciovis-19 pandemic, it has

inter alia been directed that ""Ratha Yatra/Car festival shall be conducted this year in Badadanda of Lord Jagannath Bije Puri and nowhere else in the

State in the same manner as was done last year."" In particular, it has been ordered that ""No chariots shall be pulled in places/temples in the State of

Odisha except Car festival/Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath Bije Puri"".

As regards rest of the temples other than the Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri, the said order directs that ""only rituals may be performed inside the

temple premises"".

In all these petitions on behalf of the devotees and the sevayats of the deities in different locations of the State of Odisha the grievance raised is

that they too should have been permitted to conduct the respective Car festivals on the ground that the rate of COVID-19 surge in those locations is

far less than it is at Puri.

This Court would not like to sit in appeal over the decision of the Government of Odisha as expressed in the aforementioned order dated 10th June

2021 of the SRC in so far as the special instructions in respect of the Rath Yatra/Car festival to be held in Puri is concerned. The temple of Lord

Jagannath at Puri constitutes a class apart and has been implicitly recognized as such by the order dated 22nd June, 2020 of the Supreme Court of

India in Writ Petition (Civil) No.571 of 2020 (Odisha Bikash Parishad v. Union of India) whereby specific directions were issued in relation to the

holding of the Ratha Yatra in Puri in 2020, when the first wave of the Ciovid-19 was still on.

Mr. Mohanty, learned Additional Government Advocate appearing on advance notice on behalf of the Opposite Parties (State) informs this Court

that the impugned order dated 10th June, 2021 has been issued keeping in view the above directions of the Supreme Court.

These are extraordinary times in which not just Odisha but the entire country is barely recovering from the second wave of the deadly Covid

pandemic. The measures and precautions taken by the State of Odisha have to be viewed in the said context. Consequently, this Court is not inclined

to entertain any of the prayers in any of the above writ petitions, praying for permission to hold their respective Rath yatras/festivals on parity with the

temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri.

The writ petitions are accordingly dismissed.

As the restrictions due to resurgence of COVID-19 situation are continuing, learned counsel for the parties may utilize a printout of the order

available in the High Court’s website, at par with certified copy, subject to attestation by the concerned advocate, in the manner prescribed vide

Court’s Notice No.4587, dated 25th March, 2020 as modified by Court’s Notice No.4798, dated 15th April, 2021.