CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Monday fixed April 15 for taking stock of the progress made in conducting the inventory of the valuables and ornaments recovered from the inner chamber of Shree Jagannath temple’s Ratna Bhandar.
The division bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice BP Routray has directed the state government to submit a report on the status of the inventory process by then.
The bench was hearing a fresh petition filed as part of the PIL for tabling of the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission report which was submitted to the state government on November 29, 2018. In his fresh plea, petitioner Dilip Kumar Baral sought direction to the government to conduct inventory of the valuables and ornaments in the inner chamber of Ratna Bhandar which has not been made since 1978.
Appearing on Baral’s behalf, advocate Anup Kumar Mohapatra stated that since the reconstitution of the committee constituted to supervise the inventory, eight months have elapsed but no action has been taken yet. Countering it, advocate general Pitambar Acharya stated that the government had constituted a high-level committee headed by a retired high court judge in July last year for conducting the inventory.
In the first phase, the lock of the inner chamber of Ratna Bandar was broken open and all the valuables and ornaments shifted to a temporary Ratna Bhandar inside the precincts of the temple. The shifting was necessary to carry out the required repair of the inner chamber. The inventory process will start after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) completes the repair work, Acharya stated.
In an affidavit placed before the court on Monday, the ASI said restoration, repair and conservation work was taken up after the empty inner Ratna Bhandar was handed over to them on December 17, 2024. De-plastering of the inner and outer wall has been completed. The conservation and restoration works are going on.