PURI: A finance sub-committee will inquire into the allegation of Rs 100 crore fraud in Jagannath temple corpus fund. This was decided at the first meeting of the Sri Jagannath Temple Managing Body here on Tuesday.
The body took the decision after senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra on Monday claimed that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has shown irregularities of about Rs 100 crore in the temple corpus fund.
At the meeting, chaired by Gajapati Dibyasingha Deb and attended by newly appointed Chief Administrator of the temple PK Jena and officers in charge of rituals, it was also decided to allow the Shankaracharya of Puri to offer prayers on the bathing altar of the Trinity during Snana Yatra. The seer would also be allowed on the chariots during the Rath Yatra on June 25. But those sevayats who are not on duty or family members of any sevayat cannot touch the deities as per the High Court judgment, said the Chief Administrator.
The Chief Administrator said policy for sale of Jagannath Temple land will be sent to the Law department for approval. Among other things, it was decided to defer the Jagamohan repair work by two months as it cannot be completed before the annual fete.
The meeting remained inconclusive on the demand for revoking suspension of some sevayats, who were barred after the last year’s Niladri Bije fiasco. The schedule of Snana Purnima finalised in Chhatisa Niyog meeting held on Monday was approved. Almost all the representatives of various nijogs had participated despite a poster asking them not to cooperate with the administration was found pasted on the temple walls.