The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, the body responsible for managing the Ram Temple, has appointed retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as the shrine’s inaugural chief executive officer, the Trust confirmed on Wednesday.
Mishra, who hails from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, is a highly decorated former Indian Air Force officer best known for having led the Western Air Command during Operation Sindoor. His selection came after a rigorous vetting process: a high-powered screening committee sifted through more than 5,500 applications before narrowing the field to three finalists, whose names were placed before the Trust at its meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
The appointment marks the culmination of a search process the Trust initiated earlier this year, against the backdrop of a controversy over alleged embezzlement of temple donations that had already led to the arrest of eight people. The creation of the CEO post itself had been driven partly by calls to tighten financial oversight and administrative accountability at the temple following that scandal.
As CEO, Mishra will be expected to oversee the temple’s day-to-day administrative and financial operations under the Trust’s supervision, with an emphasis — as Trust officials have stressed throughout the selection process — on restoring donor confidence after the funds controversy.