Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on July 13 issued notice to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and sought a status report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the UP Government on a batch of petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant directed the SIT to place before the top court a detailed status report, including its composition, and posted the batch of petitions for further hearing on July 20.
The Bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, passed the order while hearing a batch of petitions, including a writ petition filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami, a criminal writ petition filed by Ajay Kumar Rai and a separate plea moved by RJD MP Sudhakar Singh.
Taking note of the ongoing investigation, the Supreme Court directed the SIT constituted by the Uttar Pradesh government to file a status report before it. “Since some FIRs have already been registered and an SIT has been constituted to investigate, we direct the SIT constituted by the State of Uttar Pradesh to submit a status report before this Court. The status report shall also give full particulars of the composition of the SIT,” the order said.
Appearing on behalf of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta submitted that notice to the Government authorities may not be necessary as they would be assisting the apex court in the matter.
