Cuttack, April 20: The Justice Bimal Prasad Das Commission has recommended amendment to the Shri Jagannath Temple Act, 1955, to deal with people misbehaving with women during darshan of the deities in the shrine.

In an interim report, the judicial commission has recommended punishment for those found misbehaving with women inside the temple.

The punishment is imperative because the women devotees come to the temple with a trust in the place of worship, the interim report observes, highly placed sources told The Telegraph.

The one-man commission of inquiry was set up to bring in reforms in the functioning of the 12th century temple.

Sources said the commission had compiled a list of suggestions on the security of devotees for hassle-free darshan, along with maintenance of law and order inside and outside the temple.

The panel was appointed on July 23 last year following an attack on the Puri collector and delay in conducting the rituals of Lord Jagannath on the day of niladri bije on July 17, 2016.

Justice Das, who started work on September 29, submitted the interim report to the state government today.

"The interim report was received by Odisha's law minister Arun Sahu," the commission's secretary B.P. Parija told The Telegraph.

The 60-page report primarily deals with suggestions related to civil and police administration, sanitation, approaching roads and security related to the temple.

The commission had received 12,791 suggestions, including 11,094 affidavits, 1,551 statements and the rest emails.

"Of them, around 3,000 affidavits have already been examined," Parija said.

The panel expects the government to implement the recommendations during rath yatra that starts on June 25.

New administrator

The state government appointed 1989-batch IAS officer Pradip Kumar Jena as the chief temple administrator last night replacing Suresh Chandra Mohapatra.