Why is Ayodhya Ram Temple Trust outside the RTI Act as donation theft controversy escalates? Explained

Summary

The Ram Mandir controversy over the alleged embezzlement of donations has intensified amid the ongoing probe, with the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust convening a meeting on Monday. The key meeting is expected to be dominated by discussions on the resignations submitted by the Trust's General Secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra. The controversy has also brought renewed attention to why religious trusts such as the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust are generally exempt from the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas on Saturday called on the Centre to review its position, saying that bringing the Trust within its purview would strengthen transparency and public accountability. The government classifies such trusts as independent, private entities rather than "public authorities" under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005. The CIC determined that the Trust was not established or financed by the government and that its creation complied with Supreme Court directives, leading to its classification as an independent organization. It also maintained that neither the Centre nor the Uttar Pradesh government had provided any financial assistance to the trust and that the "constitution of the trust was the only role played by the government", undertaken in compliance with the Supreme Court's directions. In its ruling, the commission observed that the trust "was created as per the directions" of the Supreme Court through the execution of "a trust deed". Referring to the Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict of November 2019, he said the Centre had framed the scheme for the Trust, established it through a gazette notification and transferred the acquired land to it. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AF