Cuttack: The Orissa HC on Friday said the height of the idol cannot be singled out as an essential aspect of a tradition or practice, without which the Durga Puja festival itself may not have any significance.
The state government has restricted the maximum height of Durga Puja idols to 4ft for community pujas, saying the decision was taken to avoid a possible third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The HC said the Durga Puja festival itself is a combination of several elements of celebration, and the idol is but one important component.
“In respect of these many elements there has had to be some amount of restriction on the scale and size. It is in that context that the restriction on the height of the idol has to be viewed,” the two-judge bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice B P Routray observed.
The observation came while dismissing a petition filed by Cuttack city’s Balu Bazar Puja Committee seeking permission to raise the height of the Durga idol this year. The HC said the committee has not been able to convince the court that if the height of the idol is restricted to 4ft, then somehow the sanctity of the occasion, the devotion and fervour associated with the festival, and the religious sentiments of the people would be interfered with in a manner contrary to tradition.
“These may be matters of perception, but will have to be balanced against several countervailing interests and factors, which concern the health and safety of the public at large. These are certainly not easy decisions for the state to take. Equally, they are not to be interfered with lightly by the courts unless strong legal grounds exist,” the bench also observed.
The HC said Cuttack itself reportedly has more than 150 Durga Puja samitis/mandalis, while all over Odisha the number would apparently be in thousands.
Relaxing a restriction for just one Durga Puja committee would trigger similar demands from all over, making it difficult for the government to strictly enforce the measures it has put in place at a time when the state is still in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic, the bench further observed.
On the other hand, barring the Balu Bazar Puja Committee, it appears that none of the other Durga Puja committees have found the restrictions on the height of the idol to be hurtful to public sentiment or interfering with their celebration of the events, the bench added.
On being contacted, S N Sangneria, the president of the Balu Bazar Puja Committee, told TOI, “We will take a decision on whether to move the Supreme Court or not only after examining the full text of judgment.”
In its 10-page judgment, the HC also said the Covid-19 situation now may not be the same as it was in these months last year. But the country and Odisha are still not entirely free from it.
