Orissa High Court directs State Government to tally Puri Jagannath temple’s jewellery inventoried in 1978

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.

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.

The jewellery and valuables of both the Ratna Bhandars were shifted to temporary strong rooms located in the adjacent Jagamohana in order to facilitate the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct the repair and conservation works of the Ratna Bhandar.

Adjudicating a matter relating to delay in tallying, a division bench of Orissa High Court comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Judge Justice M.S. Raman directed, “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.”

“We further direct the State government to complete the exercise of tallying the inventory report submitted by the newly constituted Committee with the inventory report of the Committee submitted in the year 1978 within three months from date,” says the Division Bench, which had delivered judgment on January 27, 2026. The copy of judgment was made public recently.

The Court observed that “it is no gain saying that the inventory of the jewellery and valuables of Lord Shri Jagannath which was conducted way back in the year 1978 shall be the benchmark document in order to ascertain the inventory undertaken by the committee subsequently constituted by the State Government, whether 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.”

Moreover, the High Court directed that the report of the Inquiry Committee with regard to the missing key should be placed on the floor of Assembly House in the ensuing session. “We expect that a decision would be taken thereupon,” judges remarked.

“The inquiry committee also submitted the report on the missing or 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,” the High Court observed.

Meanwhile, the repair and conservation work of both the Ratna Bhandars has already been completed by the Archaeological Survey of India.