Cuttack, Jan 18: The Orissa High Court on Wednesday granted two more weeks to the state government to file an affidavit on the action taken on Justice Raghubir Das Commission's report.
Dilip Kumar Baral, a resident of Puri, had filed the PIL seeking intervention against the state government for not making public the report even after more than five years of its submission.
The Odisha government had constituted the judicial commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952 on June 6, 2018, two months after the keys of the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of Jagannath temple in Puri were found to be missing.
Justice Raghubir Das had submitted his inquiry report to the state government on November 29, 2018. Around Rs 22.27 lakh was reportedly spent on the probe exercise.
The High Court on April 25, 2023 had first sought the current status of the report from the government. The Odisha government sought two more months to submit the report on July 10.
Then the state government was granted one week time on December 1 and 15. But when the petition was taken up on Wednesday, the state counsel assured the court to submit an affidavit on the status of the report within the next two to three days. Petitioner counsel Anup Kumar Mohapatra strongly opposed the plea.
However, allowing the plea, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice BR Sarangi and Justice MS Raman deferred hearing on the matter to after two weeks. It is the third time the court deferred hearing on the matter in nearly nine months.
