In an important judgment in connection with Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri, the Orissa High Court has directed the State Government to complete the exercise of tallying the fresh inventory report with the inventory report of the Committee submitted in the year 1978 within the next three months.
During the past many years, the issue of the ruinous condition of Ratna Bhandar and the missing of its keys had been raised in different forums.
The Jagannath Temple Ratna Bhandar ‘missing keys’ controversy: Explained
As per the last inventory carried out 45 years ago, the Ratna Bhandar had more than 1.2 quintals of gold and 2.2 quintals of silver. In addition to this, there is a sizeable amount of gold ornaments which are in regular use in the temple. For obvious reasons, the State Government had shown ‘reluctance’ to open the treasury of Shree Jagannath Temple.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power, the State constituted a High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice Biswanath Rath, former Orissa High Court Judge. Subsequently, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was framed by the government in relation to the opening of the Ratna Bhandar. They were opened on July 14, 2024.
