Ayodhya: Amid the ongoing row over the alleged embezzlement of funds at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust regulated the dress code of priests of the holy shrine.
Sources told the Times Now that priests will now perform rituals wearing unstitched clothes. All priests serving Ram Lalla required will follow this uniform dress code from August 15. Religious committee member Rajkumar Das confirmed the decision to Times Now. Under the new guidelines, all priests will wear yellow (peet) attire. During summer, they will wear a dhoti and an uttariya (upper cloth) made of unstitched silk. The religious committee considers silk suitable from the perspective of ritual purity, as it is believed to be less susceptible to becoming impure through physical contact.
During the winter months, the priests will be provided with woollen clothing appropriate for the weather, while retaining the yellow colour. The attire will therefore change according to the season, but uniformity among the priests will be maintained.
The newly constituted religious trust committee has agreed to the revised dress code after objections were raised during a committee meeting.
Earlier, a (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to probe the alleged donation fraud had proposed several recommendations, including pocketless uniforms for the counting staff and the videography of the process. It also proposed weekly audits for the counting of donations.
On July 19, the SIT submitted its status report in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court. The matter was surfaced in the first week of june and soon it snowballed into a political controversy with the Opposition targeting the BHaratiuya Janata Party governments in the Centre and Uttar Pradesh. The Oppsoitiona lso staged protests in Palrliaent and demanding asnwer from the government over the alleged fraud.
Meanwhile, a court in Ayodhya on Monday extended the judicial custody of all the eight accused in the Ram temple donation theft case by 14 days. The accused — Avinash Shukla, Anukalp Mishra, Lavkush Mishra, Maneesh Kumar Yadav, Karunesh Pandey, Ramashankar Mishra, Subhash Srivastava and Ram Shankar Yadav alias Tinnu — were produced before the court through video-conferencing from the district jail, Singh said.
Ram Temple Trust Wraps Up CEO Selection Process:
The Trust completed the interview process to appoint a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the temple trust, sources said. Around 16 candidates were interviewed for the post, with the selection process involving retired Army officers as well as former IAS and IPS officers.
The interviews were conducted as part of the Trust’s process to identify a suitable candidate to oversee the administrative and operational affairs associated with the temple trust.
Sources said the candidates included individuals with experience in administration, security, and management. The Trust is now expected to take a final call on the appointment after evaluating the candidates who appeared for the interviews.