The Orissa High Court today asked the administration of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri to open by April 16 the prayer hall for devotees which has been out of bounds for over two years.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Vineet Saran summoned an officer of the temple administration to the court hall to give the order of opening the 'Jagamohan'.
"Open the Jagamohan to the devotees, positively by April 16, or else stringent legal actions will be initiated against the temple administration," the court told ritual administrator Pradeep Kumar Dash.
Earlier, Dash, in an affidavit, had urged the court to grant time till August 1 to the administration to open the prayer hall on account of the Rath Yatra in the last week of July.
Taking strong exceptions to the affidavit, the bench ordered its counsel to ensure that Dash appears in the court in person.
It was after Advocate General Surya Prakash Mishra assured the court of the timely compliance of its order, the bench decided to fix April 16 as the deadline for opening the prayer hall.
The bench also asked the temple administration to file an affidavit in the court on April 19, stating the procedures followed for complying with its orders.
The Jagamohan was closed for public in January 2016 on account of a repair work being undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The ASI had informed the high court on March 16 that the work in the hall is complete and it could be made accessible to the devotees.
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