Orissa high court: Table report on Ratna Bhandar’s missing keys in House budget session

Cuttack: Orissa high court has directed the state govt to place the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission report on the missing/misplacement of keys of Puri Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar before the assembly during the budget session, scheduled from Feb 17.

The court also directed that the inventory of ornaments and jewellery be completed within three months along with the exercise of tallying them with the 1978 benchmark list.


It cautioned that “no complacency can be shown by the state government” and posted the matter after three months for a further report. The order issued on Jan 27 was uploaded on Thursday.

The Justice Raghubir Dash Commission, constituted on June 6, 2018 to inquire into the circumstances under which the original keys went missing, had submitted its report to the govt on Nov 29, 2018.

While hearing a PIL filed by Puri-resident Dillip Kumar Baral, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M S Raman underlined that the state “cannot sit idle” after completion of repair and conservation works of the Ratna Bhandar by the Archaeological Survey of India, with valuables reinstated under the supervision of the newly constituted inventory committee.

A draft SOP for a fresh inventory, based on the 1978 record, has been approved by temple authorities and is awaiting final approval of the state. Advocate Anup Kumar Mohapatra represented the petitioner.

Advocate-general Pitambar Acharya submitted that the commission’s report would be placed before the cabinet and thereafter before the assembly for a conscious decision.

On the inventory, he told the court, “So far as the inventory of the jewellery and valuables of Lord Shri Jagannath are concerned, he fairly submits that an extensive exercise is required to scrutinise the same in commensurate with the inventory conducted in the year 1978 and such extensive exercise requires some time.”

Taking note of it, the bench observed that case should be taken to ensure whether the inventory matches the 1978 list, while directing that the inventory should be completed within three months.