The chief priests (ravals) of the Kedarnath and Badrinath temples are being quarantined in Uttarakhand government facilities, which has hung a cloud over their participation in the shrines’ annual opening ceremonies, scheduled next week.

Both the ravals had been outside Uttarakhand and protocol says that those returning from another state must be quarantined for 14 days — a schedule that would rule them out of the April 29 and 30 ceremonies.

But state religious affairs minister Satpal Maharaj said the Centre would be asked to decide on the ravals’ participation at the events, raising the possibility of the 14-day stipulation being relaxed for the two priests.

The pandemic protocol is set to be compromised anyway with the state priests’ union last week rejecting a government proposal to conduct the opening ceremonies online. The government had flagged the ban on gatherings but the priests said cameras could not be taken inside the sanctum sanctorum.

Kedarnath raval Bhimashankar Linga returned from Nanded in Maharashtra on Sunday with five assistants and has been quarantined, said Varun Kumar, sub-divisional magistrate of Rudraprayag, where Kedarnath is located.

B. Sankaran Namboodiri of Badrinath was expected to arrive on Sunday night from Kannur in Kerala, and was

set to be quarantined in Chamoli, where the temple is located.

The Kedarnath and Badrinath temples, which closed for winter on October 29 and November 17 last year, are scheduled for reopening on April 29 and 30, respectively. According to tradition, the ravals need to unlock the temples and conduct the opening-day rituals.

With the ravals stranded outside the state, the temple committees had last week said the texts allowed substitutes to perform the opening-day rituals.

Subsequently, responding to a request from the state, the Centre arranged to bring the two ravals and their assistants to Uttarakhand by road, minister Maharaj said.

A government source in Dehradun said Linga and his assistants were being medically examined at the quarantine centre.

“Tests on Namboodiri and his assistants will start as soon as they reach Chamoli,” he said.

“In normal circumstances, someone arriving from another state must be quarantined for 14 days, but we are trying to ensure they can conduct the opening pujas.”

Maharaj, the minister, said: “We’ll draw up test charts for the ravals and send them to the state and central governments to decide on their presence at the opening-day ceremonies.”