Tally current Jagannath Temple Ratna Bhandar inventory with 1978 report in 3 months: Orissa High Court tells govt

The Orissa High Court has issued significant directives to the Odisha government regarding the inventory and verification of valuables in Puri Jagannath Temple Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove). The court has ordered that the counting and assessment process must be completed within the next three months, official sources said on Thursday.

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In addition, the High Court delivered important instructions concerning the inquiry report on allegedly missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar. The court has directed that the inquiry report be presented during the upcoming session of the State Legislative Assembly.

Specifically, the High Court instructed the State government that the report prepared by the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission be formally tabled in the Assembly. The directives aim to ensure transparency and accountability in matters related to Ratna Bhandar.

“It is no gain saying that the inventory of jewelleries and valuables of Lord Shri Jagannath which was conducted way back in the year 1978 shall be the bench mark document in order to ascertain the inventory undertaken by the committee subsequently constituted by the State Government, whether all the jewelleries and valuables of Lord Shri Jagannath, which were found at the time of inventory conducted in the year 1978 tallies with the inventory done by the present committee,” the High Court order mentioned.

“We further direct the State Government to complete the exercise of tallying the inventory report submitted by the newly constituted Committee with the inventory report of the Committee submitted in the year 1978 within three months from the date. We hasten to add that no complacency can be shown by the State Government in relation to the process of the inventory and the report submitted by the Committee, and we trust and hope that the State shall show alacrity in this regard. List this matter after three months when the State would submit the further report,” the court order stated.