New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and sought a status report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government on a batch of petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant directed the SIT to submit a detailed status report, including its composition, and posted the matter for further hearing on July 20.
The Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohan, passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions, including a writ petition filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, a criminal writ petition by Ajay Kumar Rai and a separate plea by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh.
Taking note of the ongoing investigation, the apex court directed the Uttar Pradesh government's SIT to place its status report before the court.
"Since some FIRs have already been registered and an SIT has been constituted to investigate, we direct the SIT constituted by the State of Uttar Pradesh to submit a status report before this Court. The status report shall also give full particulars of the composition of the SIT," the court said.
Appearing for the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that issuing notice to the government authorities was unnecessary as they would assist the court in the matter.
Mehta also informed the Bench that the SIT's status report would be submitted in a sealed cover.
When the petitioners sought a copy of the status report, the Solicitor General opposed the request, arguing that the investigation was still underway. Declining the plea at this stage, the court observed, "We will see later. It's an ongoing investigation. You know the law. We have passed an order."
The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 20.
The petitions seek a court-monitored investigation into alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
Advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, who filed the writ petition in his personal capacity, has sought directions for the preservation of records and evidence relating to donations made at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, along with greater transparency in the administration of temple offerings.
According to the petition, offerings made to a deity in a public temple constitute "sacred trust property" vested in the deity as a juristic person, and those handling such offerings are fiduciaries bound by duties of transparency, accountability and preservation.
The plea has sought immediate preservation of all records, CCTV footage and digital logs relating to donations and offerings at the temple. It has also sought a sealed status report on the SIT probe and an independent forensic audit of all donations, offerings and valuable items received by the Trust since its inception.
Additionally, the petition has urged the apex court to direct the formulation of minimum constitutional safeguards to ensure transparent handling of public temple donations and offerings in temples of national importance.
Meanwhile, RJD MP Sudhakar Singh has sought the transfer of the ongoing investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Supreme Court's direct monitoring.
His petition also seeks the appointment of a temporary court-monitored oversight committee comprising retired judicial officers and financial experts to oversee the Trust's secular financial affairs. It further seeks preservation of all financial records, restrictions on major financial decisions pending the investigation, a comprehensive forensic audit, and publication of audited financial statements and donation logs on the Trust's official website.
With IANS inputs