Overview
- The three-member Search Committee finished face-to-face interviews of 16 finalists at the Ram Janmbhoomi complex on August 11–12 and will now evaluate candidates before sending a panel of three names to the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
- The recruitment began with 5,585 applications and 3,877 submitted CVs, moved through detailed reviews and about 111 online interactions, and narrowed to 16 finalists drawn from retired military officers, former IAS and IPS officials, and senior professionals.
- The selection panel comprises Justice (Retd.) Pramod Kohli, Lieutenant General (Retd.) V. K. Chaturvedi, and nuclear scientist Dr Suresh Haware, who assessed candidates on management, crowd control, technology and leadership skills.
- Reports conflicted over whether interviewers asked personal or religious questions about diet, alcohol use or Hindu practice; the Search Committee and multiple sources deny such questions were part of the assessment.
- The CEO will be appointed on a reported three-year contract and is intended to strengthen financial transparency, crowd and security management, and day-to-day operations after June’s donation theft revelations and related resignations and arrests.