With the Supreme Court on Thursday permitting the expert committee it constituted to inventory the vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple here to open vaults C and D, it has now become clear the inventorying which began on February 20 would continue uninterrupted.
The expert committee can be, as and when it deems fit, ask the advocate commissioner appointed by the principal sub-court to unseal these vaults. The vaults would be re-sealed each time.
Vault C to be opened later
Head of the expert committee M.V. Nair told The Hindu on Thursday night that vault C would in all probability be opened only after the inventorying of vaults E and F are completed. These two vaults contain the articles used by the temple priests for their daily pujas.
The original plan of the expert committee was to open vault C to begin the inventorying process.
However, this vault is among the four that have been sealed by an order of the Principal Sub-Court, Thiruvananthapuram.
The question before the committee was whether it was competent to open the vaults without permission from a court. Now, the committee need not approach the Supreme Court every time it wishes to open the vaults.
No eviction of traders now
However, the move to evict commercial establishments adjoining the walls of the temple did not find favour the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The apex court reportedly observed that it cannot orders effecting mass eviction of traders in the area.
The Digital Archiving of Temple Antiques (DATA) continued at the temple on Thursday. Articles from vault E were documented.
The expert committee has, in its report submitted to the Supreme Court on February 13 cautioned that unless a secure storage vault is constructed to house the documented articles, the progress of the DATA would be affected.
The committee had asked the court to issue directions for the vault to be constructed in three months.
