Over 5,300 apply for Ram Temple CEO post amid donation row; 18 shortlisted
Eighteen candidates have been shortlisted for interviews for the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust, temple sources
Eighteen candidates have been shortlisted for interviews for the post of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust, temple sources said on Monday. More than 5,300 people had applied for the post, and candidates with administrative experience are likely to be preferred. The interviews will be held at the temple premises on Tuesday and Wednesday before a panel comprising former Justice Pramod Kohli, Lieutenant General (retd) Vishnukant Chaturvedi and scientist Suresh Haware, former chairman of the Shirdi Sai Baba Trust, the sources said.
Read Full Story The CEO will be responsible for overseeing the administration and management of the Ram temple's affairs and businesses, as the temple staff and authorities face a probe over donation embezzlement. According to the sources, the selected candidate must be a practising Hindu and must strictly follow Hindu traditions and guidelines. The candidate must also be a pure vegetarian and a strict teetotaller. The age criterion for the post has been fixed between 50 and 70 years, the sources added.
Trust officials had decided to appoint a CEO after the embezzlement of Ram temple donations came to light in the first week of June. The Uttar Pradesh government set up a Special Investigation Team on June 13 to probe the allegations and had initially given it 15 days. After the preliminary SIT report was submitted on June 23, an FIR was registered on June 25 and eight accused - Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Manish Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu Yadav - were arrested.
During the investigation, police recovered cash from multiple accused, with the highest recovery of Rs 20.39 lakh from Shukla, besides gold, silver and foreign currency. In sum, the trust has narrowed the CEO selection process to 18 candidates from more than 5,300 applications, with interviews set for Tuesday and Wednesday, against the backdrop of the ongoing probe into the alleged embezzlement of temple donations. Ends
The BriefWire