Why is the Ram Janmbhoomi Trust Not Complying With the RTI Act?
The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra (SBJBTKshetra) was constituted by the central government via a gazette notification on 5 February 2020, based on the Supreme Courts directions in the Ayodhya Land Verdict on 9 November 2019. A year has passed, but strangely, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) does not have details of the SRJBTKshetras Central Public Information Officer (CPIO). Section 5(1) of the RTI Act says the CPIO should be appointed at the earliest after the establishment of the Trust. As per media reports, the Trust has collected around Rs 2,100 crore, as early as January 2021. And most of it is public money. Hence, it is indeed important that the Trust maintains transparency on how this money is being spent by sharing information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. But that doesn't seem to be the situation. An RTI was filed with the MHA and SRJBTKshetra seeking details of the Central Public Information Officers (CPIO) and First Appellate Authority (FAA) for the public authority Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra.