Today (16th March):The Orissa High Court has adjourned the hearing on a PIL concerning the missing keys of Puri Jagannath Temple’s ‘Ratna Bhandar’. The PIL, filed by a Puri resident, seeks the representation of the Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Enquiry report in the state Assembly. The state government requested two weeks to file an affidavit in response to the PIL.
Cuttack: Today (March 16th) : The Orissa High Court postponed the hearing for an additional two weeks regarding a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the presentation of the Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Enquiry report on the missing keys of the Puri Jagannath Temple’s ‘Ratna Bhandar’ in the state Assembly.
A Division Bench, led by Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, adjourned the hearing on Friday after the State Government requested two more weeks to submit an affidavit in response to the PIL. The PIL, initiated by a resident of Puri in 2023, Dilip Kumar Baral, asked the High Court to intervene as the State Government has not made the inquiry commission report public.
Justice Raghubir Das Commission of Enquiry was established by the State Government on June 6, 2018, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the keys to Lord Jagannath’s treasury, known as ‘Ratna Bhandar’, at the Puri temple. Justice Das submitted his report to the Odisha Government on November 29, 2018. However, the State Government has yet to present the report in the Assembly.
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Baral, in his petition, highlighted that the state government invested approximately Rs 23 lakh for the Commission of Enquiry. He stated that the citizens of the state remain uninformed about the findings of the Commission of Enquiry report.
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During the preliminary hearing in April last year, the High Court directed the state government to submit its response in an affidavit within two months regarding the current status of the inquiry report.
