Bhubaneswar, Feb 12: The Orissa High Court has directed the state government to table the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission’s report on the missing key issue of the Ratna Bhandar of the 12th-century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri during the upcoming session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
While hearing a public interest litigation, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M.S. Raman said the report, submitted under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, must be presented before the House without any delay. The court emphasized that the matter cannot remain pending indefinitely and described it as the State’s bounden duty to act promptly.
The Bench further directed the government to complete within three months the reconciliation of the latest inventory of the Ratna Bhandar with the one prepared in 1978. It observed that the jewellery and valuables listed in the 1978 inventory correspond with those documented by the current committee.
The Ratna Bhandar, which serves as the temple treasury, has contained invaluable gold ornaments, rare gemstones, silver artefacts and other offerings dedicated over centuries by devotees to Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra.
