The Orissa High Court on Friday rejected the petition filed by Balu Bazar Puja committee, one of the oldest Durga Puja committees of Cuttack, seeking relaxation on limiting the height of the Durga idol to four feet high.

Special relief commissioner P.K. Jena told The Telegraph: “The high court upheld the state’s order on limiting the height of the idols to four feet. We will not make any comments on the issue.”

The high court bench comprising Chief Justice S. Muralidhar and judge B.P. Routray in its order on Friday declined to interfere with the order issued by the Odisha government which contained, among several other measures, a restriction on the height of the idols by mandating that it should not exceed four feet.

Last year, the court had permitted only these nine puja committees in Cuttack, which had already constructed the idols of Durga, to have idols over 4ft high.

The court said the organisers of all pujas in the four months beginning August and ending November 2021 have been given sufficient notice of the restrictions

“Second, while the Covid-19 situation now may not be the same as it was in these months in 2020, the country as a whole and Odisha too is still not free from it entirely. The apprehension that any large congregation of people might turn out to be a super spreader event is real,” the court said.

The court further said: “Durga Puja is indeed a major festival in the country, particularly in the eastern region. While Cuttack itself reportedly has over 150 Durga Puja Samitis/Mandalis, all over Odisha the number would apparently be in thousands. Relaxing a restriction for just one Durga Puja Committee would trigger similar demands 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 court also pointed out that barring the petitioners, it appears that none of the other Durga Puja Samitis have found the restrictions put in place by the impugned order on the height of the idol to be hurtful of public sentiment or interfering with their celebration of the events.

“The impugned order dated August 9, 2021 ( referring to SRC order to size of the idol less than 4 feet) has been issued taking into account all the Puja festivals in the months of August, September, October and November, 2021. These festivals include the Ganesh Puja, the Durga Puja, the Laxmi Puja, the Kali Puja and the Kartikeswar Puja. As noted in the impugned order, these are occasions where “people usually congregate and get in touch with each other to celebrate the festival/Puja during which it is not possible to adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour and such congregations have a potential to cause spread of the virus.”

The court also observed that 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. It cannot be singled out as an‘essential’ aspect of a tradition or practice without which, the festival itself may not have significance. On this particular aspect, the petitioners have 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,” the court observed.

The court also said: “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 certainly are 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 court is of the view that no case has been made out for modifying the condition in the Order dated August 9, 2021 (referring to SRC order to size of the idol less than 4ft), and that too only for the petitioners, that the height of the idol should not exceed 4 ft. “Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed,” the order said.