Orissa HC issues notice to 4 respondents on Jagannath Temple's Ratna Bhandar
The Orissa High Court issued notices to four people on Wednesday, including Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb, while hearing a petition filed by senior BJP leader Samir Mohanty seeking a direction for an inventory of all valuables inside the Ratna Bhandar of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, and necessary repair work inside it.
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Cuttack: The Orissa High Court issued notices to four people on Wednesday, including Gajapati Maharaj Dibyasingha Deb, while hearing a petition filed by senior BJP leader Samir Mohanty seeking a direction for an inventory of all valuables inside the Ratna Bhandar of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha, and necessary repair work inside it.
Notices have been served on the Chairman of the Srimandir Managing Committee, Divyasingha Deb, the Chief Administrator of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration, Ranjan Kumar Das, the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and its Superintendent.
The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for August 7.
In his petition, the former BJP president requested that the Governor or a sitting judge of the High Court appoint a high-power committee to oversee the preparation of an inventory of Lord Jagannath's ornaments and other jewelry kept inside the Ratna Bhandar. He also claimed that the state government was failing to perform necessary repairs despite its dilapidated state.
He also requested that the Ratna Bhandar be opened for repair and construction of its inner wall in accordance with the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) letter and the technical committee's recommendation.
Mohanty also requested that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigate the Ratna Bhandar's missing keys. Despite the fact that a judicial commission was formed to investigate the missing key episode, the state government had yet to table the findings report in the assembly, he said.
The inventory of ornaments kept in the Ratna Bhandar is required by law to be updated on a regular basis. However, this has not occurred. The temple management committee has already requested that the temple be reopened so that cracks in its inner wall can be repaired. "However, no decision has yet been made," Gajapati Maharaja recently told reporters.
The Ratna Bhandar was last open in April of 2018. A 16-person team, including ASI experts, had entered the outer chamber but were unable to enter the inner chamber because the key was missing. They inspected the structure from afar and reported that it was in poor condition.
