PIL filed at Calcutta HC over Bengal govt’s involvement in Digha Jagannath temple

Kolkata, May 13 A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed at a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday questioning the involvement of West Bengal government with the recently inaugurated Lord Jagannath Temple at Digha in East Midnapore, reportedly modelled after the iconic Shree Jagannath Dham Temple at Puri in Odisha.

In the petition filed by Calcutta High Court advocate and the state BJP leader in West Bengal, Kaustav Bagchi argued on various points, claiming that the involvement of the state government with the Digha temple, reportedly shown as Shree Jagannath Dham Cultural Centre in the records of the state government, is against the constitutional provisions.

The division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das has admitted the petition. In his petition, Bagchi had also requested that the first hearing in the matter be conducted by May 19.

The first question raised by Bagchi in the petition is how the address of the office of the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO), the implementing agency of the Digha temple, was shown as the address of the trust of the Digha Temple.

Bagchi further raised objections over the announcement of tax concessions against donations made to the temple trust. The petitioner's question is, since, as per legal provision, no state government can be involved in the construction of any religious establishment, how could the announcement for tax concessions be announced?

Bagchi also raised how money could be spent from the state exchequer behind the construction of any religious structure, as was done in the case of the Digha Lord Jagannath Temple. The estimated cost borne from the state exchequer for the Digha structure is Rs 250 crore.

Already, since the inauguration of the temple on April 30, several controversies have surfaced in the matter.

The first allegation was regarding the use of leftover timber meant for Puri’s Shree Jagannath Dham Temple for carving deities in the Digha Temple. Secondly objection was raised regarding the use of “Dham” for describing the structure at Digha, considering that the word has a bigger religious and historical connotation.

As per Hindu belief, barring the temples at Badrinath, Rameswaram, Dwarka, and Puri, no other religious structure can be referred to as “Dham”.

--IANS

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