The Supreme Court will take up on 2 April the hearing in the Puri’s Jagannath Temple case as it gave all sides time to present their opinion on its 12-point proposal for reforms.

A division bench of the court comprising Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and M.R. Shah issued the directive after going through the report submitted by amicus curiae Ranjit Kumar. On February 27, the amicus curiae submitted a report on reforms at the temple to the apex court for a hearing. However, the hearing was deferred to March 5 as Justice Sikri was unavailable.

During his two-day visit to Puri on February 22 and 23, Kumar held a series of meetings with the Gajapati Maharaja, the district judge, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, Jagannath Temple Managing Committee and the Chhattisa Nijog and expressed satisfaction over the state of affairs at the temple. In January, the apex court had appointed Kumar as amicus curiae to assist it in the matter related to administration of Jagannath temple in Puri after senior advocate Gopal Subramanium sought to be relieved him as amicus curiae in the matter.

–India Legal Bureau