New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday 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, while assuring the petitioner that the matter would be listed by the apex court registry.
Appearing as petitioner-in-person, advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami submitted before a Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi that his immediate prayer was confined to securing an urgent listing to ensure the preservation of crucial evidence.
The petitioner sought appropriate directions for preservation and production of CCTV footage and DVR recordings, as well as digital payment logs and transaction records relating to donations and offerings at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya.
Responding to the request, the Justice Nagarathna-led Bench said: “The registry will list it. You will get a date.”
The PIL seeks a court-monitored investigation and forensic audit into the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, citing reports of alleged financial irregularities linked to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The petition has sought 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.
Besides seeking preservation of all evidence, records, CCTV footage and digital logs relating to donations and offerings at the temple, the petition has also prayed for a sealed status report from an 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.
The PIL has further 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 after public reports and the constitution of a three-member SIT by the Uttar Pradesh government over allegations of irregularities, misappropriation and mishandling of donations and offerings at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple.
Clarifying the scope of the petition, the petitioner said it was confined to the secular administration of donations and did not seek any interference in religious rituals, customs or denominational matters.
Meanwhile, a three-member SIT headed by Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant recently submitted its preliminary findings to the state government, and a detailed investigation into the alleged embezzlement of temple funds remains underway.
(IANS)
