CENTRE OBJECTS ODISHA GOVERNMENT’S LINGARAJ TEMPLE ORDINANCE, ASKS FOR CLARIFICATION

Bhubaneswar (The Quiver) : Central government has blocked the Odisha government’s ordinance to bring the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar and eight associated temples around the 11th century shrine under a special law.

The Central government has told the Odisha government that its ordinance to bring the 11th-century Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar and its associated temples under a special law is outside the “legislative competence” of the state legislature and could lead to conflict with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act)

In December 2020, Naveen Patnaik led cabinet approved an ordinance to bring Lingaraj Temple, the largest temple in Bhubaneswar and 8 other associated temples, under the control of Lingaraj Temple Managing Committee, similar to the one for Jagannath Temple in Puri.

However, the Union Home Ministry  satated that the several sections of the proposed ordinance are in conflict with the AMASR Act. The ministry also mentioned that the State Government has violated the AMASR Act by constructing modern structures around the Lingaraj Temple.

The Centre said that nine protected monuments and three centrally protected tanks in the Lingaraj Temple complex governed by the AMASR Act have been brought under the purview of the ordinance. Dual administrative authorities would result in continuous conflict, it said.