Former judge of Orissa High Court, Justice Biswanath Rath has been appointed as the chairman of the high-level committee newly formed by the Odisha government to supervise the reopening of Ratna Bhandar at Puri’s Jagannath temple for repair and inventory of valuables.
In an exclusive interview to OTV, Justice Rath said that the first meeting of the committee will be held at Jagannath Conference hall on Saturday and a discussion will be held in this regard.
“The first responsibility will be the opening of Ratna Bhandar following which decisions will be made on the modalities of inventory of valuables. Keeping the valuable ornaments of inner and outer Ratna Bhandar safe will be the most important work. We will try to make proper decisions in this regard in the first meeting of the committee,” said Rath.
“We are going to do this work after 46 years. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be prepared as per the decision of the committee in the meeting. I have fought various cases as a lawyer of Srimandir for many years. Now I have another opportunity to serve Lord Jagannath. With blessings from Lord Jagannath and cooperation from the people, we will try our best to finish the work soon. Nothing happens without the wish of the Lord. Hence, we should have faith in him for the fulfillment of His work,” he further said.
“We have many experienced people on the committee and we will get proper suggestions from them. With the Lord’s direction, the work will be executed smoothly,” he added.