Cuttack, June 25: The Jagannath temple administration has claimed that the decision to bar devotees from having the Naba Jaubana Besha darshan of Lord Jagannath on July 17, the day before rath yatra, is not unprecedented.

There was no Naba Jaubana Besha darshan on five of the six Nabakalebar held in the past century, the administration has informed Orissa High Court.

Abhisek Das, a social activist of Cuttack, had filed the petition, contending that the decision marked a departure from the age-old tradition of allowing devotees to have Naba Jaubana Besha darshan on the day before the rath yatra every year.

Acting on it, the vacation court had issued notice to the temple administration on June 10.

In an affidavit, the administration has claimed that devotees were not allowed to have the darshan after Nabakalebar in 1912, 1931, 1950 and 1996. The affidavit, filed yesterday, was in response to a PIL seeking intervention against the decision not to allow Naba Jaubana Besha darshan on July 17.

The statement stated that the darshan was allowed on the Naba Jauban day after Nabakalebar in 1977.

"In that year, there was an inordinate delay and disturbance in pahandi of the Trinity to their chariots and also pulling of the chariots on the rath yatra day. The state government appointed a retired judge of Orissa High Court as Commission of Inquiry to determine and report regarding cause and circumstances, which had led to the delay," Puri Jagannath temple's assistant director Saroj Kumar Ray said in the affidavit.

"The single factor, which contributed mostly for the delay, was the decision to allow darshan on the two evenings preceding the rath yatra day," Ray stated in his affidavit, quoting the report of Justice Balakrushna Behera, who headed the one man commission.

Justifying its decision, the administration said: "No devotee shall be permitted for darshan of the deities on the date of Naba Jaubana (July 17) in order to protect the life and properties of the devotees and to have the rath yatra timely on the very next day in a peaceful manner."

More than 30 lakh people are expected to gather in Puri to witness Nabakalebar rath yatra. The administration said: "There is no provision in the Temple Record of Rights for Sahanamela (free darshan). There is only provision for paramanik darshan (ticket darshan) on the Naba Jaubana day."

"Usually, the ticket darshan is held for maximum two hours - in which only about 4,000 people can be allowed to have Naba Jaubana darshan. People who will be deprived of darshan will be large in number and may create law and order situation. So if such huge number of devotees will be allowed to have darshan on the Naba Jaubana day, the rituals of that day will be delayed - which will lead to unbearable delay in performance of the car festival rituals on the next day," Ray stated in the affidavit.