LUCKNOW: Advocating the restoration of the trust of Ram devotees as the foremost priority in the wake of the ongoing controversy over the alleged donation scam at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, temple construction committee chief Nripendra Mishra called for a complete overhaul of the temple management.
He also suggested the immediate appointment of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to supervise the temple affairs.
While speaking to various media groups, Mishra suggested that the proposed post of CEO should come under the ambit of Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, but it should be accorded operational autonomy for day-to-day management.
Mishra said the magnitude of temple operations was no less than that of a small district.
Accepting that the whole issue exposed major lacunae in the supervision process of temple affairs, especially those related to the donation funds, Mishra said it was difficult to assess when the theft of donation funds had been going on.
Mishra, the retired IAS officer who had served as the PM’s principal Secretary for a long time, raised questions over accountability and compliance with the strict norms and procedures that were laid down for maintaining the donation accounts.
“The donation process and the maintenance of those accounts should be totally transparent, and the details should be updated on the temple site daily,” said Mishra.
He added that the lapses were a sharp reminder of the vulnerabilities within the temple’s administrative framework.
He said that, as per the norms, those involved in the counting process of donation money were supposed to come to the temple in clothes without pockets and had to be frisked daily while leaving the premises.
“However, as per the buzz, some of those who had a role in the counting process left the temple premises carrying stacks of money,” he stated.
Highly critical of the role of the State Bank of India, which was entrusted with handling and safeguarding temple donations, Mishra said it “did not perform its duty”.
“Surprisingly, the entire counting process was left to 44 outsourced employees,” he said, adding that the role of State Bank of India employees should also be probed.
However, Mishra came out in support of Temple Trust general secretary Champat Rai, saying his integrity could not be questioned in view of his association with the temple movement for so long, but the same could not be said about other senior members of the trust.
Misra said the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister were briefed about the issue.
The PM, he added, was closely monitoring developments and viewed it as a case of a “broken system” that needed to be made transparent and free of loopholes.
Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the allegations of irregularities has so far completed the interrogation of two dozen (24) employees of the temple trust.
As per the highly placed sources, it has also closely screened the entire process of collection of donations and its counting process.
The SIT examined CCTV footage of the counting process.
Of the 24 persons screened so far, 12 are representatives of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, six are associated with the State Bank of India (SBI), and six are personnel from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is involved in maintaining records and related systems.
The SIT reviewed the handling of donations collected through 40 donation boxes installed across the temple complex. The SIT also visited the bank where the trust has its account and questioned the manager for hours as part of its investigation.
