By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram: Ahead of the apex court hearing a case related to the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple, a petitioner whose plea to the Supreme Court led to an inventory of the treasure lying in underground vaults below the shrine Tuesday voiced his unhappiness over people linked to the stock-taking speaking to the media.
“I will advise everyone who has been asked to do the job by the supreme Court to follow the directive of the court. I will certainly bring the reaction of the person to the attention of the court,” said T.P. Sundararajan to the media here Tuesday.
He was reacting to an interview given to a TV channel by retired high court judge C.S. Rajan who said that it was an amazing sight to see such a large quantity of jewels which one can never see in a lifetime and it was indeed a rare experience.
“This is not a treasure as you the media has been reporting. In fact, this is the contribution of the royal family of Travancore to the temple over the years. They have given this to the temple over the years, what they received,” said Rajan.
“None can say what the value is, it could be more or less than what is being said in the media. We have made a proper inventory of the entire items,” said Rajan.
He also said that they have recorded all the contents of the five chambers in five books and hence it is going to be a record.
“We will submit an interim report to the apex court, and this is not the main case because the main case in the apex court is to whom this belongs,” said Rajan.
Speaking to IANS, a royal family source said that Wednesday the case of the stay given by the apex court against the Kerala High Court ruling was coming up for hearing.
“Early this year, the Kerala High Court had asked the state government to take over the temple and the temple had sought a stay from the Supreme Court, which was received. This case is coming up for hearing tomorrow and we will put all the things before the court,” said the royal family source.
Sunderarajan has been given police protection after angry reactions from the public on why he went ahead with a petition to the apex court, which has led to the stock-taking. He said that he does not fear anything.
The stock-taking that began last week continued till Monday with a break on Sunday when five of the six chambers were inspected and the contents accounted for.
The seven-member committee appointed by the apex court is expected to meet on Friday here again and Wednesday’s case is going to be keenly watched.