Orissa High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the state government seeking its response in connection with a petition pertaining to the missing keys of the 12th century Puri Shree Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove).

High court advocate Anup Kumar Mohapatra told The Telegraph: “One Dilip Baral of Puri filed a petition seeking a direction from the court to make the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission report on the missing key of the Ratna Bhandar being made public. Even after nearly five years of submission of the report of the commission, it has not been made public.”

He said: “We have also intimated our concern that as there has been no inventory of valuable ornaments and precious things stored in the Ratna Bhandar since 1978 we have no idea about whether all the jewellery of the Ratna Bhandar is safe or not. As the report is not being made public, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is not taking steps for the repair and renovation of the Ratna Bhandar.”

Mohapatra, accompanied by his associate advocate Harapriya Routray said: “High court has issued notice to the chief secretary and law secretary asking them to submit their response on the status of Justice Das’s report on missing key by July 10 and the hearing will be held on July 10.”

As per the petition of Baral, Lord Jagannath owns a lot of gold, silver, pearls, diamonds, corals and precious jewels donated by devotees and granted by kings over the centuries. The safe custody of the Ratna Bhandar is now vested with the Government of Odisha and the Sri Jagannath Temple Managing Committee.

“The Ratna Bhandar comprises two chambers (inner and outer) and it stores the jewels and ornaments that the three deities are adorned with. The outer chamber is regularly opened and ornaments are taken out by the priests on the occasion of festivals,” the petition said.

It further said, “In 2018, there were concerns regarding the safety and durability of the inner chamber of the treasure room. The inner chamber has not been opened in decades. When cracks were noticed on the outer wall and repair work was needed, the Puri district collector stated that the keys to the inner chamber were missing.”

Later, chief minister Naveen Patnaik ordered the formation of an inquiry commission in June 2018 headed by Justice Raghubir Dash to probe into the matter and find persons accountable. “On November 29, 2018, the Raghubir Dash Commission finally submitted a report to the department of home, the government of Odisha,” the petition said.

The petitioner said: “The government is not publishing the report nor presenting before the state legislature as a result the repairing work of Ratna Bhandar could not be started as a result the Ratna Bhandar of the 12th century shrine is in danger. The state has incurred Rs 22.27 lakh expenses on the commission but the government is sitting over the matter and not publishing the report to the public which is a matter of concern.”