Cuttack: Orissa high court has sought response from the state govt and endowment commissioner on a petition alleging that six auction holders have defaulted on payment of more than Rs 1 crore for shops operated inside Maa Sarala Temple premises in Jagatsinghpur district.The 16th century shrine, located at Kanakpur in Tirtol block, is a prominent Shakti Peeth of Odisha dedicated to Maa Sarala, regarded as a goddess of wisdom, power and divine energy.A division bench of Justices S K Panigrahi and M S Raman issued notice on the petition filed by Ambika Mohanty and two others. The petitioners have sought a joint inquiry by the commissioner of endowment, Odisha, and assistant commissioner of endowment, Cuttack, into the alleged non-payment of the auction dues. Advocate Subhransu Bhusan Mohanty appeared for the petitioners.The court in its Sept 17 order directed the state govt and commissioner of endowment to file their replies before the next date of hearing and posted the matter for Oct 7.“Issue notice to state govt, commissioner endowment with directions to file reply before the next date of listing of this matter,” the bench said.The petitioners have sought directions for taking appropriate steps to recover outstanding amounts from the six auction holders. They have also urged the endowment authorities to conduct a joint inquiry into the alleged lapses in recovery of the dues.The petition alleged that the executive officer of Maa Sarala Temple had auctioned shops inside the temple premises for sale of bhog and lamps for 2019-20, 2023-24 and 2024-25. Six highest bidders were handed over the shops after the auctions but they have allegedly failed to clear the amounts payable to the temple.According to the petition, the outstanding dues from the auction holders run into more than Rs 1 crore. It alleged that one of the bidders had defaulted on Rs 35 lakh, while another owed Rs 23.6 lakh. Two other auction holders allegedly had dues of Rs 20.99 lakh and Rs 19.42 lakh respectively.lalmohanpatnaik2019@gmail.com
