Reserving its order on opening vault B of Kerala’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, the Supreme Court on Friday said it would take into account the traditions and faith of the temple and its devotees but without compromising on its security.
However, the court for now would focus on the recommendations of the expert committee on the question of security, preservation, conservation of the artefacts that have been found in other vaults. The expert committee, headed by director-general of National Museum C.V. Ananda Bose, was set up by the apex court July 21 this year. An apex court bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice A.K. Patnaik on Friday said: “Because of your faith and consequent absence of security, we can’t allow the treasure be stolen by the greedy people and thieves.”
The court said this when senior counsel M.N. Krishnamani contended that according to Devaprasnam ritual, vault B should not be opened.
He said the Devaprasnam ritual was integral to the process of opening vault B. Justice Raveendran said: “We are not anxious to break the tradition and faith of the temple and its devotees, but once it becomes inevitable, then some compromise had to be worked out.” Justice Raveendran said that initially it was said that police, in their uniform, cannot enter the temple for security, but then a way was found by asking them to wear temple attire. The court, in its directions to be pronounced September 21, will deal with the recommendations of the expert committee on replacing policemen with CRPF personnel for the security of the six vaults and the sanction of the interim budget of `2.98 crores for this purpose. — IANS