BHUBANESWAR: Dropping a surprise, the state government on Thursday evening constituted a new committee to supervise the inventory of Shree Jagannath temple’s Ratna Bhandar, dissolving the Justice Arijit Pasayat-led panel set up by the previous BJD government in March.
The new panel will be headed by Justice Biswanath Rath, former Judge of Orissa High Court. The Law department notified a 16-member high level committee under the chairmanship of Justice Rath.
The decision comes a day ahead of Justice Pasayat-led panel’s scheduled meeting on Friday which was to be followed by inventorisation-related exercise over the next three weeks.
The new committee has been constituted to supervise the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee in carrying out the inventorisation of valuables including jewelleries stored in the Ratna Bhandar of the Shree Jagannath Temple. Some of the members of the committee include Dr CBK Mohanty, Sudarshan Patnaik, Swami Pragyananda, Jagdish Mishra and former DGP Prakash Mishra.
Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan informed that the new committee will meet at the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) office at Puri on July 6 to discuss the modalities of opening of the temple treasury and an official date will be announced on the day.
In March, the BJD government had formed a 12-member committee, led by Justice Pasayat, to supervise the Ratna Bhandar inventorisation and conservation work. Justice Pasayat had held two meetings and had arrived in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.