Temple treasure:C vault to be opened today

Monday, February 27, 2012:The last unopened ‘C’ vault of the Padmanabhaswamy temple would be opened on Monday following the apex court’s nod to go ahead for preparing the inventory of the temple treasure.
The Supreme Court appointed Expert committee, headed by conservationist M V Nair informed that the computer facilities used for the evaluation and documentation of the treasure in the E and F chambers will be used for the documentation of the C-vault.
The Supreme Court had granted permission for opening the C, D vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy temple. The ‘C’ chamber was earlier sealed following the directive by Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sub-Court. The expert committee filed a petition in the Apex Court to open the sealed chamber.
The Apex Court also ruled that presence of the Advocates’ commission appointed by the Sub-Court was not necessary during the inventory process of the C-vault.
Meanwhile the scientific documentation of the treasure, which is estimated to be worth more than Rs one lakh crore, unearthed from the temple, began here on Monday morning. The documentation is being carried out using electronic gadgets and high-end devices supplied by Keltron. As only 20 items can be documented at one day, the process would be a lengthy one, taking at least a year to complete.
In all, there are six vaults in the temple of which five have been opened based on a petition filed by a former IPS official T P Sundararajan, who passed away during the trial last July. In July last year, the Supreme Court-appointed committee found the treasure from vault A which had remained unopened for more than 150 years. The B vault will only be opened after completing the inventory of items of other vaults. For this, the expert panel has to get the permission of the Supreme Court.