Cuttack: The Jagannath Temple Administration informed Orissa High Court on Thursday that arrangements for darshan of the deities by devotees from inside the Jagmohan would be done "on obtaining safety certificate of the Jagmohan from the Archaeological Survey of India".

The temple administration said the Jagmohan would be opened to the public "after repair and conservation of Ratna Bhandar" to facilitate repair and conservation work of the Natmandap (dance hall).

Situated within the Jagmohan, the Ratna Bhandar is the storeroom for precious jewellery and ornaments of the deities.

In an affidavit, the Puri Jagannath temple's chief administrator Pradip Jena said the decision to get the Ratna Bhandar inspected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and undertake necessary repair and conservation work if required, was taken by the temple's managing committee on March 20.

On March 5, the ASI's superintending archaeologist (Bhubaneswar circle) H.A. Naik had written to the temple's chief administrator with a request to allow the ASI to erect scaffolding and working platforms for systematic scrutiny of the ceiling of Natmandap for repair and conservation work. The process would take 90 working days from the date of commencement, Naik said in the letter.

"The managing committee have deliberated on the matter of this letter and discussed that as rituals of car festival would start from April 18, it would not be possible to hand over Natmandap to the ASI for 90 days for their scrutiny. So, it was resolved unanimously at the meeting to hand over the Natmandap after completion of the car festival 2018 if the Jagmohan was declared safe and secure by the ASI at present," Jena said in his affidavit.

"Taking note of the affidavit, the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi posted the matter to March 29 for hearing along with the status report of the ASI on the condition of Ratna Bhandar," central government counsel Chandrakanta Pradhan said.