

DEHRADUN: Hemlata Nautiyal, mother of Pramod Nautiyal, an accused in the alleged theft of offerings from the Badrinath temple, has filed an 11-point Right to Information (RTI) application seeking details of staff deployment, administrative responsibilities and appointments in the Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC).
The application has prompted activity within the committee, as it raises questions about the system for counting offerings, protocol duties, the role of officials and the appointment of a contractual law officer.
Nautiyal, a resident of Nehru Colony in Dehradun and wife of Hari Prasad Nautiyal, has sought information on the deployment of a personal assistant for counting offerings and handling protocol duties.
She has asked which officer authorised the assignment and whether those tasks formed part of the employee’s prescribed duties.
Nautiyal has also requested copies of duty orders, rosters and related records to establish how responsibilities for counting temple offerings and managing protocol arrangements were allocated.
The RTI further seeks documents identifying officers responsible for these functions and explaining how accountability was fixed among officials and employees. Another set of questions concerns the contractual law officer serving in the BKTC.
Nautiyal has asked under which rules the appointment was made and whether approval from the state government was obtained. She has also sought copies of documents related to the appointment.
The records supplied by the committee could clarify its internal procedures, including who issued key orders and whether employees were assigned duties in accordance with the responsibilities attached to their posts.
The application contains 11 separate queries and seeks orders, duty records and other official documents.
Responding to the development, BKTC Chief Executive Officer Sohan Rangad said the committee had no objection to sharing any legitimate information.
“The committee has no problem providing any reasonable information sought by any person,” Rangad said. “Whatever information has been requested through the RTI application will be supplied to the applicant in accordance with the prescribed rules.”