Cuttack: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has told Orissa High Court that repair work of six of the 13 minor shrines inside the Jagannath temple in Puri had been taken up in order of priority.

On July 5, the high court had directed the ASI to report on the current status of the progress of repair work of periphery temples.

The court was monitoring conservation work at the Jagannath temple as part of adjudication of a PIL on Monday.

In an affidavit, ASI (Bhubaneswar circle) superintending archaeologist H.A. Naik said: "Conservation and repair work had been taken up first at the periphery temples under Group A."

ASI officials and engineers had inspected the periphery temples and identified three groups of temples that require immediate attention. They prepared three groups - A, B and C - "in order of priority for attending essential conservation work depending on their structural conditions".

The ASI had included 13 minor shrines in the list.

According to Nayak, repair was in progress at Group A shrines such as Jalakrida mandap, Mukti mandap, Juhulana mandap, Maa Sarbamangala temple, Adi Narasingh temple, Maa Mahalaxmi temple and Surya temple.

The other periphery temples identified for conservation included Pataleswar temple, Baikuntheswar temple, Maa Annapurna temple, Ram temple, Barabhay Hanuman temple, which are in Group B, and Singha Dwar, western gate and Protihari Nijoga and Radhakrushna temple in Group C.

"During the period of ratha yatra, the ASI concentrated on repair of Jaya Bijaya Dwar and inspection of Natamandap, Bhogamandap and Roshaghara. Now after ratha yatra is over, repair of periphery temples have been resumed with full strength," Nayak told the court.

"Taking note of the affidavit, the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi posted the matter to August 20 for further monitoring of progress of repair of the periphery temples," central government counsel Chandrakanta Pradhan said.