A Supreme Court bench today barred the disclosure of details of the treasures found in the chambers of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala. The court, which is scheduled to hear the case in detail on Friday, also proposed to appoint a curator of a museum to preserve the treasure, the notional value of which is supposed to be more than Rs one lakh crore.
The bench was hearing the appeal of Rama Varma, a heir of the erstwhile Travancore king who had kept the treasure in the temple about two centuries ago. Varma has appealed against the Kerala High Court order directing the state to take over of the assets and management of the temple in Thiruvananthapuram.
The bench, consisting of Justice R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik, also barred the observer supervising the operations, from giving interviews to the media. Members of the erstwhile royal family have been allowed to be present at the stock-taking of the treasures. The court, however, allowed videography of the treasures and the operation of opening the chambers.
The court will examine the desirability of keeping the treasure in a national museum. The opinions of the Archaelogical Survey of India and the National Museum are likely to be sought on this.
The court had earlier stayed the high court order and called for a detailed inventory of valuables lying in the treasure trove. The inventory is being made by a seven-member team appointed by the court and it is likely to report to the court on Friday.
