TEMPLE TRUST IN MOTION

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Parliament the formation of a trust to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya, as directed by the Supreme Court in its landmark Nov 9 judgment

OFFICIAL NAME

The trust is named Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra. One of the trustees will be from the Dalit community

TRUSTEES ■

Senior Supreme Court advocate K Parasaran, 92, who headed the team of lawyers in the apex court in the Ayodhya land case. Jagatguru Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati of Prayagraj Jagatguru Mahadevacharya Vishwaprasanna Theertha Maharaj of Udupi, Karnataka Yugpurush Paramananda Maharaj of Haridwar Swami Govind Dev Maharaj of Pune Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra, Ayodhya naresh Dr Anil Mishra, a practising homeopathic doctor of Ayodhya Kameshwar Chaupal, Patna Mahant Dhinendra Das of the Nirmohi Akhara, Ayodhya The Ayodhya district magistrate as an ex officio trustee, who will be a practising Hindu. If the DM is not a Hindu, the additional district

magistrate will be an ex officio member of the Trust. The remaining members will be nominated – two by the Board of Trustees, one each by the Centre and the state (both to be IAS officers not below the ranks of joint secretary and secretary respectively). The Centre also mandated that at any point of time, all members of the Trust will be practising Hindus and one of them must belong to the Scheduled Caste category.

WHAT WILL IT DO? ■

It will independently take all decisions related to the construction of the temple. A total of 67 acres of land acquired under the Ayodhya Act will be transferred to it All rights, title and interests in relation to the area, including the inner and outer courtyard of the disputed site, shall vest in the trust, according to a govt order

FROM WHERE WILL IT FUNCTION?

Its registered office will be at R-20, Greater Kailash Part-1, New Delhi: 48