Constitutional law expert and senior counsel KK Venugopal has represented the Travancore royal family in the Supreme Court, submitting that they did not intend to claim possession over the contents of the “public temple” that may be worth up to $22bn.

Venugopal submitted on behalf of the royal heirs that “no part of the wealth belongs to any person except the deity, Lord Padmanabhaswamy”, according to the Times of India.

The apex court bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik expressed relief, according to the paper, following intense debate and fears of claims and counter-claims over the riches that were discovered last week.

The temple was opened following a writ petition in the Kerala High Court by lawyer Sundara Rajan, who said the state should take over the temple because the royal family was incapable of protecting the riches. Rajan was represented by counsel Anand Padmanaban.

The Supreme Court bench said yesterday: “Valuation of articles is secondary, more important is preservation, safety and security.”

The central government intends to create a security cordon of up to 500m around the temple, consisting of 200 police and commando forces, which is to be introduced at a cost of Rs 30 crore ($6.8m) per year according to a media report.

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