Puri, July 6: A 16-member committee, headed by former Orissa High Court judge Justice Biswanath Rath, will convene in Puri on Saturday to finalise the date for opening the Ratna Bhandar and establish procedures for repairing the inner chamber and inventorying the valuables stored within it, Minister Harichandan said.
The panel will also decide which external agencies will be involved in examining the quality of the valuables in the treasury of the 12th-century shrine.
Based on the committee's recommendations, the state government will determine the next steps for reopening the Ratna Bhandar.
The chief administrator of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has been appointed as the committee's member convenor. Other members include Puri Collector, sand artist Sudarsan Pattanaik, a representative of Gajapati Maharaj, representatives of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and former Odisha DGP Prakash Mishra.
The formation of this high-level committee follows a directive from the high court on September 29, 2023, while disposing of a PIL filed by BJP leader Samir Mohanty regarding the safety of the Ratna Bhandar.
