Justice Biswanath Rath, a retired judge of Odisha High Court, who is heading the committee to supervise the inventory of the Puri Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandar said on Saturday that the decision to open the treasure trove will be taken on July 9.

Justice Rath made the statement after presiding over a meeting of the newly formed committee in Puri.

During the meeting, the committee was informed that a duplicate key to the Ratna Bhandar was stored in the treasury. For the last few months, the issue of the missing key of the Ratna Bhandar has been debated and it was also a major election issue.

It is worth noting that the bhandar’s lock cannot be opened with one key as a set of keys is required for the purpose.

Justice Rath said: “If the keys don’t function because of the rust in the lock during the opening, we will break the lock. However, for that, a standard procedure will be followed. Even for the inventory of the gold jewellery, the SOP will be followed. The administration has been asked to prepare the SOP.”

Rath said: “It has also been decided to use goldsmiths’ help to repair the gold jewellery. But the administration will come out with detailed modalities for this purpose. Shifting of jewellery is likely to be required. The committee will take a call on the issue of where the ornaments will be shifted and how they will be kept. We are hopeful that the repair work of the Ratna Bhandar will start before the return of the deities to the temple.”

The state government constituted a 16-member committee, including the chairman, on July 4 to supervise the reopening of the Ratna Bhandar for repair and inventory of the gold jewellery.