Cuttack: A day after a team inspected the ratna bhandar or treasury of Puri's Jagannath temple, Orissa High Court rapped the shrine administration for shifting its stand on the issue of opening the Jagmohan (prayer hall) to the public.

The court pulled up the temple administration after it filed an affidavit saying "at present it will be a risk to allow devotees to enter the Jagmohan through the Jay Bijay Dwar". The affidavit claimed the Jay Bijay Dwar was in a state of distress.

In an affidavit, the temple's chief administrator P.K. Jena said: "Therefore, it is imperative to complete the repair work of Jay Bijay Dwar before allowing the pilgrims/devotees to enter Jagmohan for darshan as this is the only entry route to Jagmohan for devotees".

"During the above period, any repair work inside ratna bhandar, if needed can be completed," Jena said in the affidavit.

The court took note of the fact that the temple administration had said in its March 22 affidavit that for facilitating repair and conservation of natmandap, the Jagmohan would be opened to the public "after repair and conservation of ratna bhandar". Later on March 29, when the temple administration was expected to file an affidavit on arrangement for darshan of the deities from inside the Jagmohan it had sought six weeks to open the ratna bhandar without making any mention of the Jagmohan. The court had on then refused to interfere in the matter of opening the ratna bhandar and directed the temple administration to file an affidavit on April 5 informing it when the devotees could have darshan of the deities from the Jagmohan.

According to earlier practice, the devotees entered the Jagmohan through the Jay Bijay Dwar, had darshan of the deities and then came out through the Beharan Dwar. Jay Bijay Dwar is the connecting corridor between Jagmohan and the natmandap.

For the renovation and repair of Jagmohan, the devotees have since January 2016 been restricted from having darshan of the deities from Bahara Katha of the natmandap.

But in his affidavit on Thursday, Jena requested the court to allow time till July 25 (rath yatra) for opening the Jagmohan for public as there were "practical and factual difficulties".

However, the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi left it to the temple administration to find its own way to overcome the purported difficulties and manage movement of devotees to the Jagmohan.

The bench posted the matter to April 10 for hearing and directed the temple administration to file an affidavit with a proper schedule about opening of the Jagmohan and handing over of natmandap to the Archaeological Survey of India.