Supreme Court to examine pleas on Ayodhya temple fund irregularities on Monday

The Supreme Court will hear on July 13 a set of PILs seeking a court-monitored probe into alleged financial irregularities in donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is slated to hear, on Monday, a batch of public interest litigations (PILs) seeking a court-monitored probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya.  

As per the causelist published on the apex court’s official website, a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana is scheduled to take up the petitions for hearing on July 13.

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The matters include a writ petition filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami in person, a criminal writ petition filed by Ajay Kumar Rai and another against the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and others, and a separate petition moved by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had declined an urgent hearing on Goswami’s plea when it was mentioned before a Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu.

The petitioner had pressed for an immediate listing, contending that the allegations raised were “very serious”.

Questioning the urgency, the Justice Sundresh-led Bench had directed that the matter be listed after the top court reopened following the summer vacation.

Goswami’s petition seeks directions for preservation of records and evidence relating to donations made at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and greater transparency in the administration of temple offerings.

According to the plea, offerings made to a deity in a public temple constitute “sacred trust property” vesting in the deity as a juristic person, and persons handling such offerings are fiduciaries bound by duties of transparency, accountability, and preservation.

The petition has sought immediate preservation of all records, CCTV footage and digital logs relating to donations and offerings at the temple, besides seeking a sealed status report of the ongoing Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe and an independent forensic audit of all donations, offerings and valuable items received by the Trust since its inception.

It had also urged the apex court to direct the formulation of minimum constitutional safeguards for transparent handling of public temple donations and offerings in temples of national importance.

Referring to recent developments, the plea said the cause of action arose after public reports and the constitution of a three-member SIT by the Uttar Pradesh government allegedly revealed irregularities, misappropriation, and mishandling of donations at the temple.

Meanwhile, MP Sudhakar Singh has sought transfer of the ongoing probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. His petition also seeks the appointment of a temporary court-monitored oversight committee of retired judicial officers and financial experts to oversee the Trust’s secular financial affairs, preservation of all financial records, restrictions on major financial decisions pending investigation, a comprehensive forensic audit, and publication of audited financial statements and donation logs on the Trust’s official website.