Ram Mandir Donation Row: Supreme Court issues notice to Trust, seeks SIT report

July 13, 2026

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust and sought a status report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Uttar Pradesh 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.

Hearing posted for July 20

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.

SC directs SIT to submit report 

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. SG Mehta informed the CJI Kant-led Bench that the status report would be placed before it in a sealed cover. When the petitioners requested that a copy of the status report also be furnished to them, the Solicitor General opposed the plea, saying the investigation was still in progress. Declining the request at this stage, the top court remarked: “We will see later. It’s an ongoing investigation. You know the law. We have passed an order.”

The matter has been posted for further consideration on July 20. The petitions seek a court-monitored investigation into the alleged financial irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. The writ petition, filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami in his personal capacity, seeks directions for preservation of records and evidence relating to donations made at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and greater transparency in the administration of temple offerings.

According to the plea, offerings made to a deity in a public temple constitute “sacred trust property” vesting in the deity as a juristic person, and persons handling such offerings are fiduciaries bound by duties of transparency, accountability and preservation.