Cuttack, Dec. 7: Orissa High Court today pulled up the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for "dilly dallying" over finalising the design of stainless steel frame to support stone beams inside Jagmohan of the Puri Jagannath temple.

The court has been monitoring the ASI's renovation of the temple as part of adjudicating on a PIL that had sought its intervention for effective and timely completion of the work. Cuttack resident Abhisek Das had filed the PIL.

The court had formed a commission of inquiry and appointed an accredited engineer to ascertain the veracity of ASI's claims. Accredited engineer Nagendra Kumar Mohanty On being asked by the court, The ASI had planned a portal frame support for the cracked stone beams, including four sets of box frames in the form of an external support system fabricated out of steel plates underneath the beams.

. While the ASI's core committee had assessed it to be 450 metric tonnes per column, experts from IIT, Madras, had initially estimated it to be 600 metric tonnes, which it later scaled down to 240 metric tonnes per column. which Providing the stainless steel frame support to the beams is vital as it covers 50 per cent of all conservation work.

The division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi also pulled up assistant solicitor general Anup Bose "for taking the court for granted in a serious matter like this" when he submitted that the design had been finalised, but failed to substantiate it with any documents.

"We will neither open the report of the commission of inquiry in the sealed cover nor give a copy of it to you (assistant solicitor general) till a factual status report on the progress of work is submitted by ASI," the court said, while expressing displeasure over affidavits (filed earlier) "lacking substance" and "not clear about the position". and indicated that it would impose costs on ASI if there was any inconsistency.

The ASI had assured that restoration of the Jagmohan would be completed by June 2017.