Work on sorting and documenting of precious artefacts in the vaults of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple here will begin on February 20.
Public sector Keltron (Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation) has been appointed the nodal agency for conduct of the elaborate programme.
It has already conducted a trial run of the computers and other paraphernalia being deployed to document the contents of the vaults, says Mr M. V. Nair, head of the expert committee deputed for the job by the Supreme Court.
Mr Nair said, however, that the Supreme Court had not mandated the committee to assess the monetary value of the contents.
But data being thrown up during the course of the documentation could be extrapolated at a later stage for determining the monetary value of the contents.
Members of the committee, and those of the supervisory committee headed by former judge of the Kerala High Court Mr M.N. Krishnan, were put through a full-scale demonstration of the documentation programme.
Mr Nair said that all rituals at the temple would continue unhindered during the conduct of the exercise. Devotees would be allowed in, as usual.
The documentation programme would be executed as per the work plan submitted by the expert committee to the Supreme Court.
A trial documentation carried out on a copper plate on Thursday suggested that it would take at least 15 to 20 minutes to capture all the details of each object.
The procedure would be taken up from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. allowing a window that can accommodate 20 objects for review.
Up to 10 persons are expected to be present at a point where the sorting would take place. They would include experts on gems, coins, gold, and antiques.
According to Mr Nair, the team doing the documentation would be dressed in simple attire provided by the committee.
They would not be allowed to wear any ornaments during this time. A security drill had been in place to ensure that no object was either taken in or out of the temple during the conduct of the programme.
All procedures associated with the documentation would be video-recorded.