Overview
- The trust announced the appointment of Jagdish Aphale on Thursday, July 30, and said the post will be formally ratified at its executive meeting on September 2.
- Aphale will report to interim general secretary Krishna Mohan, serve as an office-bearer rather than a trustee, and handle daily administration of the Ayodhya temple.
- For banking purposes Aphale was made a joint signatory with Krishna Mohan, though State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda initially hesitated to accept the co-signatory without changes to the trust constitution.
- The move follows an SIT-led criminal probe that produced an FIR and the arrest of eight people over missing donations, and it comes after the resignations of general secretary Champat Rai and trustee Anil Mishra in early July.
- Aphale is an IIT Bombay alumnus who served as the temple’s honorary project manager and has longstanding ties to the RSS, and his appointment aims to stabilize operations even as opposition leaders press for wider transparency reforms and possible reconstitution of the trust.