Bhubaneswar, Dec 18: Despite a High Court Order, the BJD government has not made public the Justice Raghubir Dash Commission report on the Shrimandir's Ratna Bhandar key missing for the last eight months. But it is now in a quandary as the High Court has asked it to bring the report to the public domain without further delay.

While the dillydallying attitude of the Naveen Patnaik government has created an atmosphere of suspicion in the entire State, the recent High Court Order seems to have baffled the Odisha government to take a call on making public the Commission report on the Ratnabhandar key missing.

A question as to why the BJD government is not opening the Ratna Bhandar has haunted the people of the State.

While people were insisting on the opening of the Bhitar Ratna Bhandar of the Shreemanir, the administration on April 4, 2018, declared all of a sudden that the keys were lost. It stunned the people of the State then. Two months later, the State government constituted Justice Raghubir Dash Commission to conduct an inquiry into the key missing case on June 6, 2018. The Commission submitted a 324-page report to the Government on November 29, 2018. A whopping Rs 22 lakh was spent on the commission.

However, the State government has not brought the report to the public domain yet.

Conducting a hearing on a petition filed by Dilip Baral eight months back, the High Court had directed the State Government to file an affidavit on the report. As the government didn't respond the High Court recently asked it to submit the report within the winter vacation. The court posted the matter to the first week of January 2024 for the next hearing.

Meanwhile, the Jagannath Sena has slammed the BJD government once again.

"It is clear that the State government fears to open the Bhitar Ratnabhandar as the truth of theft of ornaments would come to the fore. If the truth comes out, the government will be dissolved," alleged Jagannath Sena convenor.

Lord Jagannath devottees have also expressed unhappiness over the delay in opening of the Ratna Bhandar.

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