petitioner is the first utpraharam of the temple. During the Kanda Shasti festival, lakhs of devotees visit the temple and at all times, the crowd is unmanageable. Therefore, in this year, the third respondent avoided the accommodation of some of devotees inside the utpraharam (ghe;J) for the Kantha Sasti festival, thereby managing the crowd in a better manner, providing a hygienic and safe atmosphere to the devotees and avoiding confusion in worshipping the main deity through entry. The counter affidavit also proceeds to state that recently, the Government has implemented the Master Plan Project worth about Rs.300 crores for improvement of various amenities in the third respondent temple and the same was inaugurated on 26.09.2022. Immediately, various improvement works commenced. As the development work is in progress, in order to avoid any inconvenience to the devotees and also taking into account their safety and security, the devotees were not permitted inside the utpraharam of the temple. It is further stated by the third respondent that when several devotees have observed fasting outside the temple in the temporary structures with basic amenities provided by the temple, the petitioner along with 400 others sought to accommodate them in the utpraharam of the temple, which was not considered, in order to ensure equality and non-discrimination among the devotees. For better appreciation, paragraphs 5 to 7 of the counter affidavit are quoted below:
