The apex court on Friday ordered for the preparation of a stock of the sacred jewellery that embellishes Lord Ayyappa at the Sabarimala temple and appointed retired Kerala HC judge CN Ramachandran Nair to monitor the work.

A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana also directed Justice Nair to appoint a person to compile the stock.

The court order came on the recommendations of Attorney General KK Venugopal,  representing the Kerala government, which referred to the precedent of a stock done on Padmanabhaswamy fortune to safeguard the jewellery was not substituted by bogus one.

The top court had previously asked the Kerala government to recommend measures to safeguard the holy jewellery at the Sabarimala temple after observing that the jewellery doesn’t belong to the erstwhile royal family but Lord Ayyappa.

“Why we should not allow the ornaments to be kept in the safe custody of a responsible person,” the bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari had asked and indicated that it may appoint a responsible person for its safe guardianship.

—India Legal Bureau