NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court permitted to conduct Jagannath Yatra which is scheduled to begin from Tuesday. The Supreme Court on Monday gave orders to this Yatra in Puri; it altered its own order of June 18, which has stayed the Rath Yatra due to Covid- 19.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde, said the state government will coordinate with the temple management and Centre to hold the Yatra. The bench said that, the court made it clear that state government is free to stop the festivities in case it endangers public health and safety.

“We aren’t asking the state you should do it but we are only allowing this to be done on certain conditions”. During the hearing, Odisha government, through senior advocate Harish Salve, told the bench that Rath Yatra can be confined to Puri alone in a limited way without the public attendance as proposed by Gajapathi Maharaj of Puri, and the State will endeavour to make necessary arrangements.

At this, the CJI said “won’t micromanage it”. “We will leave it to the wisdom of the State, which may conduct it as per its guidelines.” The bench in its detailed order said that “Clearly any spread of Covid-19 due to this will be disastrous since a large number of people are involved and it won’t be possible to track everyone after they go back home”. During the hearing, Centre suggested that the Odisha administration can impose a curfew for a day to prevent people from attending the Rath Yatra.

“All ‘sebayats’ and ‘pandas’ who have tested negative for COVID-19 can participate in rituals as may be decided by Puri Shankar acharya. People may not congregate and seek blessings on TV during live telecast. Raja of Puri and the temple committee may supervise arrangements of these rituals,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench. Following top court’s order, petitions were filed in the court seeking modification in its order and allowing the Rath Yatra only in Puri.