Declining permission to a statewide celebration of Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Odisha, with only exception to the Puri Jagannath temple, Chief Justice NV Ramana on Tuesday revealed that he too has been waiting fervently to be part of the annual ritual, however, Covid-19 was still playing spoilsport.
The Chief Justice told petitioners, seeking the Rath Yatra in other places alongside Puri: “You want to pray to the God. You can do it from home. I also wanted to go to Puri but I couldn’t in the last one and half years. This isn’t the time”.
In June, the Odisha government had said the Rath Yatra will be held on 12 July only in Puri following top court’s guidelines while banning it in all other places.
The Naveen Patnaik government submitted before the top court that it would be impossible for it to ensure the strict Covid protocol to be followed by thousands of devotees at temples across the state if the annual ritual was given the approval.
The court had ordered that each of the three chariots, would be pulled by not more than 500 people who were required to test negative for Covid-19. The Odisha government submitted before the top court it was practically impossible to impose conditions throughout the state as the second wave continues.
