Ram Temple Trust adds first woman trustee, appoints ex-Air Marshal as CEO after donation scandal
The trust managing Ayodhya’s Ram Temple has brought in three new trustees and named retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as its first chief executive officer,
The trust managing Ayodhya’s Ram Temple has brought in three new trustees and named retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as its first chief executive officer, a move meant to steady its administration after a donation-theft controversy shook confidence in the institution.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust announced the changes in Ayodhya on Wednesday. The new trustees include Dr Nirmala Yadav, an Ayodhya lawyer Madan Mohan Pandey, and Delhi-based businessman and social worker Mahesh Bhagchandka. Yadav becomes the first woman to sit on the trust board.
Fresh faces, broader reach
The appointments fill vacancies left by the death of trustee Bimlendra Mohan Mishra last year and the resignations of former general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra, both linked to the fallout from the alleged theft of donations at the temple site.
Yadav, a retired college principal from Shikohabad in Uttar Pradesh, brings an academic background to the board. She is 66 and holds postgraduate degrees in Hindi and Sanskrit, along with a doctorate. Her entry also adds the trust’s first woman and first OBC member, widening representation in a body long seen as closely tied to religious and political symbolism.
Pandey comes from the legal field in Ayodhya, while Bhagchandka has worked as a businessman and social worker in Delhi. The trust has clearly looked beyond one sphere. Different professions, different networks. That matters when an institution is trying to restore public faith after allegations that struck at its donor base.
CEO search draws thousands
Mishra’s appointment follows a lengthy selection process for the trust’s first CEO. According to people familiar with the process, 5,585 applications were received. After scrutiny, 1,580 were found suitable, 108 moved to online interaction, and 16 candidates were called for face-to-face meetings in Ayodhya before a three-member search committee recommended three names.
The committee submitted a 75-page report to the trust on September 1. Mishra, a retired Air Marshal, was then picked for the post. He has served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Air Command and, according to Indian media reports, led air operations in Operation Sindoor.
Why the overhaul matters
The trust’s latest reshuffle comes as it tries to project tighter oversight and cleaner management of one of India’s most watched religious institutions. The donation scandal triggered arrests and resignations earlier this year, turning administration into a public issue well beyond Ayodhya.
By adding a professional CEO and new trustees from academia, law and business, the trust is signaling a different operating style. Less insular. More formal. The next step will be how Mishra and the expanded board divide responsibilities in practice, and whether the new structure can calm the questions still hanging over the temple’s management.