The Orissa High Court has directed the State Government to table the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission inquiry report on the missing key episode of Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of the 12th-century Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri, on the floor of the Assembly in the ensuing session.
Priceless gold jewellery, gems, pearls and rare diamonds, apart from silver and other decorative items of the temple’s three presiding deities—Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra—are reported to have been treasured in the Ratna Bhandar. All these treasures have poured in from devotees from various parts of the country as tokens of reverence to Lord Jagannath.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M S Raman, adjudicating a public interest litigation (PIL), also asked the government to complete the exercise of tallying the latest inventory report of the Ratna Bhandar with the inventory report compiled way back in 1978 within three months.
The Division Bench emphasised that all the jewellery and valuables of Lord Shri Jagannath, which were found at the time of the inventory conducted in the year 1978, tally with the inventory done by the present committee.
Amid raging public anger over the mysterious disappearance of treasure keys, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government had ordered a judicial inquiry into the non-availability of keys to the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of the 12th-century Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri, on June 5, 2018.
The Justice Raghubir Dash Commission was constituted for an inquiry into the missing/non-availability of the keys of the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar of Shree Jagannath Temple, and the report was submitted to the State Government. The inquiry report was examined, and in terms of the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, a conscious decision was taken by the State Government to place the same before the Cabinet to be constituted after the results of the Odisha Legislative Assembly Election held in June 2024.
”The Inquiry Committee submitted the report on the missing/misplacement of the keys of those Ratna Bhandars, which, in terms of the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, is required to be placed on the floor of the House of the Assembly. There cannot be any dormant exercise in this regard, and it is an ordained duty of the State to take prompt action.
”We hasten to add that no complacency can be shown by the State Government in relation to the process of the inventory and the report submitted by the Committee and we trust and hope that the State shall show alacrity in this regard,” the Division Bench stated in the order.