Ayodhya: The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust on Wednesday deferred decisions on two key appointments — the selection of its chief executive officer (CEO) and the induction of three new trustees — while simultaneously overhauling the temple’s religious oversight structure, giving key roles to saints from Ayodhya.At a crucial meeting held at the Mani Ramdas Chhavni under the chairmanship of president Nritya Gopal Das on Wednesday, the Trust expressed dissatisfaction with the State Bank of India’s role in the donation-counting system. It also accepted a proposal to appoint a spokesperson for the trust and strongly rejected suggestions that public faith and pilgrim footfall had been dented by the ongoing controversy surrounding alleged irregularities in donation counting.The Trust postponed the appointment of its CEO by at least a month after the three-member selection committee sought additional time to scrutinise over 5,200 applications received from across the country. Trust officials said the panel, comprising retired Supreme Court judge Justice Pramod Kohli, Lieutenant General (retd) Vishnu Kant Chaturvedi and retired nuclear scientist Suresh Haware, had initially expected only 400-500 applications, but the overwhelming response made thorough evaluation impossible within the original timeline.Trust treasurer Swami Govind Dev Giri said the committee wanted to ensure that no deserving candidate was overlooked and requested more time to complete the exercise, a request that the trust accepted. Given the rise in the number of devotees and the increase in the volume of work, the Trust approved the appointment of a secretary to look after routine administrative work.The Trust also deferred a decision on filling three vacant trustee posts until its next meeting on Sept 2. Interim general secretary Krishna Mohan, who will continue to hold the post till the fresh appointment, said the process was continuing but required further consultations before a final decision could be taken. He clarified that no names were discussed during Wednesday’s meeting and that the Trust would collectively decide on the appointments before placing them in the public domain. The vacancies arose following the death of trustee Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra and the resignations of Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra.As public scrutiny of the Trust’s functioning intensifies, members also approved the creation of the post of an official spokesperson for the first time. Officials said the move was aimed at ensuring regular communication with the media and addressing what they described as misinformation and speculative reporting surrounding the Trust’s affairs. Krishna Mohan said only the decision to create the position had been taken and no individual had yet been appointed.The meeting also focused on the temple’s donation-counting system in the backdrop of the ongoing SIT probe into alleged irregularities. Trust officials indicated dissatisfaction with aspects of the State Bank of India’s functioning under the memorandum of understanding governing donation-counting operations. The Trust’s finance committee has been tasked with reviewing SBI’s responsibilities under the agreement and recommending future action.Members were informed that since the SIT probe report has not yet been submitted, the matter was not discussed in detail. The board also reviewed recent Supreme Court proceedings relating to the issue and noted with satisfaction that access to CCTV footage, including cameras installed inside the donation-counting room, had already been made available to all authorised security agencies.Seeking to counter any perception that the controversy had affected public confidence in the temple, Swami Govind Dev Giri asserted that the number of devotees visiting Shri Ram Janmabhoomi had remained unchanged despite what he termed propaganda and exaggerated allegations. He said the continued influx of pilgrims demonstrated that the faith and trust of crores of Ram devotees remained unshaken and that recent controversies had not diminished the temple’s standing among worshippers.The most far-reaching decision of the meeting, however, was the reconstitution of the Trust’s religious committee, with Ayodhya’s saints being given a central role in overseeing all religious affairs of the Ram Temple.Swami Govind Dev Giri announced that responsibility for worship, rituals, festivals, priest training and relations with religious institutions would now largely rest with a nine-member committee comprising five saints from Ayodhya and four Trust representatives.The Ayodhya members include Mahant Kamal Nayan Das of Mani Ramdas Chhawani, Swami Ramanand Das of Ram Katha Kunj, Swami Rajkumar Das of Ramvallabh Kunj, Swami Mithilesh Nandini Sharan of Hanumat Niwas Mandir and Mahant Dinendra Das of the Nirmohi Akhara. The other members are Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati, Yug Purush Swami Parmanand, Pejawar Math seer Vishwaprasanna Tirtha Swami and Swami Govind Dev Giri, who will chair the panel as provided in the Trust deed.According to the Trust, the committee will ensure that daily worship follows the traditional Vedic Ramanandi system, resolve disputes related to festival calendars, supervise major Vedic rituals and yajnas, oversee priest training and discipline, and maintain close coordination with Ayodhya’s monasteries, temples, saints and gurukuls.The Trust also announced plans to establish a permanent priest-training institution in Ayodhya to create a steady pool of trained priests and reinforce the city’s standing as a centre of religious learning.Emphasising the significance of the move, Govind Dev Giri said the Trust was gradually working towards making the Ram Temple an ideal temple and that Ayodhya’s saints would henceforth play the decisive role in guiding its religious functioning, ensuring that the shrine remains firmly rooted in the city’s spiritual traditions even as its administrative structure continues to evolve.
