Puri Gajapati blames Jagannath temple administration for missing keys
Bhubaneswar, June 7: Puri Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb on Thursday blamed the Jagannath temple administration for the missing keys of "Ratna Bhandar" (treasury).
Gajapati, in a letter released to a section of media here, said he failed to understand why he was made responsible for the actions and inactions of the temple administration.
He said that the Odisha government took over the management of Srimandir after the implementation of the Sri Jagannath Temple Act in 1960, which empowered the state government as the supreme authority for ensuring the safety of Ratna Bhandar and safe custody of its keys.
"After the Government of Odisha took over management of Srimandir from my late revered father Gajapati Maharaja Birakishore Deb in 1960 (pursuant to implementation of Shri Jagannath Temple Act,1955), the keys of the Inner Ratna-bhandara have always been in the custody of the government functionaries concerned," said Gajapati.
"After 1960, at no point of time, the Gajapati has been entrusted with the keys of Inner Ratna Bhandar nor has he been involved in any way with the handling of the said keys," he informed.
He said the few times that the Inner Ratna Bhandar had been opened after 1960, the Srimandir Administrator and Puri Collector had been involved with the handling and custody of its keys.
"Since 1960, the Gajapati has been entrusted with the custody of one out of the three keys of outer Ratna Bhandar and his authorised representative attends every opening of outer Ratna Bhandar with the said key, as and when required by the Srimandir Administration," said the Puri Gajapati.
The outer Ratna Bhandar could not be opened unless all the three custodians of the keys -- representative of the Gajapati, Srimandir Administrator and Sri Mandir Bhandar-Mekapa -- were present with the keys in their respective custodies, he informed.
"I am surprised to learn that views have been expressed recently in both electronic and print media raising questions about the role and responsibility of the Gajapati regarding safe custody of the keys of Inner Ratna Bhandar, especially having regard to his position as Chairman of the Srimandir Managing Committee," said Gajapati.
The controversy erupted after the keys of inner Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple were reported to be missing.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appointed Justice Raghubir Dash, a retired Orissa High Court judge, to inquire into the circumstances leading to non-availability of the keys of Ratna Bhandar of Jagannath temple in Puri.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
