CUTTACK: Senior BJP leader Samir Mohanty has withdrawn from the Orissa High Court the PIL he had filed over five years ago seeking a CBI probe into alleged missing gold ornaments of Puri Jagannath temple. Mohanty had alleged that nearly 3.7 kg of gold ornaments received in the form of gifts and donations for the temple had gone missing.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice BR Sarangi and Justice MS Raman while allowing withdrawal of the PIL said, “The said memo be kept on record. In view of it, the writ petition stands disposed of as withdrawn.”
According to the petition, 18.62 kg of gold ornaments and 116 kg of silver ornaments received as donations/gift for the temple were kept in the Nazir Khana instead of Ratna Bhandar (temple treasury). Later about 14.56 kg of gold was kept in the SBI locker while there is no record of the remaining 3.7 kg of gold received as a donation. Earlier, in reply to the PIL, the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) had claimed that the allegation about missing 3.7 kg gold ornaments was “baseless” as they had been “utilized”.
Subsequently, in a rejoinder to the counter affidavit, Mohanty questioned how the temple administration could utilize the gold ornaments received as donations/gifts when the Jagannath Temple Foundation Committee had no meetings during the past 19 years. The committee with the chief minister as the chairman is the custodian of the ornaments received from devotees as gifts/donations for the Jagannath temple.
Approval for the purported utilization of the gold ornaments could not have been taken as it had not met in the past 19 years. Hence, it amounted to misappropriation, the petitioner contended in the rejoinder, while alleging that the temple administration’s claim was vague.