All four gates of Puri Jagannath temple reopened for devotees
Bhubaneswar (PTI): All four gates of Jagannath temple in Puri were reopened for devotees on Thursday morning in the presence of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and his council of ministers.
The three gates of the 12th century shrine, which were closed since COVID-19 pandemic, were reopened after the 'Mangal Alati' ritual of Lord Jagannath.
The chief minister, his two deputies, ministers, several BJP MPs and party leaders visited the temple and offered prayers before Lord Jagannath. They also conducted a 'parikrama' around the temple complex.
"After the oath-taking ceremony, the BJP government had on Wednesday evening taken its first decision to reopen all four gates of the temple. Today, the gates were reopened at 6.30 am after the 'Mangal Alati' ritual," Majhi told reporters in Puri.
The government will closely monitor the situation and take necessary steps, if required, to streamline the flow of devotees to the shrine, the CM said.
He said the Odisha government has also decided to set up a Rs 500 crore corpus fund for better management, maintenance and development of the temple. The provision will be made in the upcoming state budget, Majhi said.
Cabinet minister Suresh Pujari said a detailed report has been sought to know why the three gates of the temple have not been reopened after the pandemic.
"We had the darshan of Lord Jagannath and sought his blessings to protect humankind and give us all strength to serve the people of Odisha for the next five years," he said.
Opening all the temple gates was a key promise in the BJP's election manifesto. The previous BJD government had kept three out of four gates shut since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The devotees were allowed to enter through only Singhadwara (Lion Gate), while the gates located at the three other sides of the temple remained closed, causing inconvenience to the devotees.
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Cash row: Probe panel confirms allegations against Justice Varma, CJI seeks his reply
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court-appointed panel has confirmed the cash discovery allegations against Allahabad High Court's Justice Yashwant Varma in its inquiry report, sources have said. Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna is also learnt to have nudged the judge to step down in view of the critical findings in the report.
The CJI has forwarded the panel's report to Justice Varma and sought his reply following the principle of natural justice, the sources said.
The report was submitted to the CJI by the three-member panel comprising Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu, Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Anu Sivaraman of the Karnataka High Court. It was finalised on May 3.
The panel analysed evidence and recorded the statements of over 50 people, including Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora and Delhi Fire Service chief who were among the first responders to the fire incident at Justice Varma's Lutyens Delhi residence at around 11.35 pm on March 14. He was Delhi High Court judge at the time.
Sources said the panel found clear evidence to confirm the allegations that a huge stash of cash was found in the storeroom of Justice Varma's official residence at the time of fire incident. The allegation was repeatedly denied by the judge in his reply to the Delhi High Court chief justice.
The sources said CJI Khanna, who is set to superannuate on May 13, is likely to take the issue to its logical conclusion and has informally discussed the findings of the report with senior collegium members of the apex court.
The controversy was raised following a news report in the cash discovery row and led to several steps, including a preliminary inquiry by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya, judicial work being taken away from Justice Varma in the Delhi High Court, and later his transfer to the Allahabad High Court sans judicial work.
On March 24, the apex court collegium recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma to his parent Allahabad High Court.
On March 28, the top court asked the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court not to assign any judicial work for now to Justice Varma.
