Puri: The Jagannath temple management committee has revealed in the minutes of a meeting that Rashtrapati Bhavan had "expressed displeasure" about the conduct of some servitors when President Ram Nath Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind visited the shrine on March 18.

"The President's office has expressed displeasure at the way the servitors jostled and brushed against the First Lady," according to the Odia minutes of the meeting on March 20 that came to light on Monday.

Contacted on Tuesday, sources in the President's office declined to comment on the issue.

Restrictions are imposed on other pilgrims during the movement of VVIPs in the temple but there is no such bar on the servitors ( sevayats).

According to the minutes, when the President and his wife were on their way to offer prayers at the ratna singhashan, the bejewelled throne of Lord Jagannath and his siblings, one of the servitors did not give them enough room to move.

Some servitors milled around the first couple, which led to occasional jostling.

The newly appointed chief temple administrator, P.K. Mohapatra, told The Telegraph: "I enquired about the incident. The President's office has not made any written complaint. During the President's visit, our officials had noticed that some servitors had tried to get close to him and the First Lady. Later, the district collector and the police chief conducted an inquiry into the issue. But a fresh inquiry will be held now as the issue has cropped up again."

Officials said that according to the protocol, only a handful of temple officials and the family priest of the President are allowed to enter the sanctorum sanctorum along with him. "However, on that day, apart from these people, a few servitors had entered the restricted area, causing a melee," said an official.

The minutes of the March 20 meeting noted that Rashtrapati Bhavan had taken umbrage at some comments of one of the servitors on the VVIP visit to the shrine. The servitor allegedly made some objectionable remarks when Kovind declined to sign the record book kept by the designated family priest.