New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined an urgent hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a court-monitored probe and forensic audit into the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust over alleged financial irregularities linked to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
When the matter was mentioned before a Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Sheel Nagu, the PIL litigant pressed for an urgent listing, saying the allegations raised in the plea were “very serious” and expressing apprehensions over the manner in which the state government was dealing with the matter.
Questioning the urgency, the Justice Sundresh-led Bench asked, “What’s the urgency?” before directing that the plea be listed immediately after the court reopens post-summer vacation.
The writ petition, filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami in his personal capacity, seeks directions for the 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 evidence, records, CCTV footage, and digital logs relating to donations and offerings at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir, Ayodhya”.
The PIL has also urged the apex court to direct the formulation of minimum constitutional safeguards for the 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 in June 2026 when public reports and the constitution of an SIT by the Uttar Pradesh government revealed allegations of irregularities, misappropriation and mishandling of donations and offerings at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir.
The petition clarified that it was confined to the secular administration of donations and did not seek interference in religious rituals, customs or denominational matters.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing criminal investigation, police on Sunday recovered jewellery and documents from the house of one of the accused after conducting searches at the residences of all eight persons arrested in connection with the alleged misappropriation of donations and offerings at the Ram Mandir.
The FIR was registered on the complaint of a member of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust after a preliminary SIT report flagged multiple irregularities.
The accused were remanded to judicial custody till June 29, with police stating that further action would depend on interrogation and CCTV-based evidence.
(IANS)
