Yesterday, the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust appointed retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as its first full-time Chief Executive Officer. He was selected from a shortlist of three candidates drawn from 5,585 applicants by a committee headed by a retired High Court judge. The appointment comes four months after his retirement from the Indian Air Force and only weeks after a major donation embezzlement scandal forced resignations and arrests inside the Trust.
Mishra, 62, belongs to Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot on 6 December 1986 and served for nearly 39 years. He logged more than 3,000 flying hours across 18 types of aircraft and helicopters. His senior appointments included command of a fighter squadron, Air Officer Commanding of two frontline bases, Commandant of the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, and Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff for Operations. On 1 January 2025 he took charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Air Command, the IAF’s most critical operational formation. He held the post until his retirement on 30 April 2026.
During his tenure as AOC-in-C, he oversaw the Western Air Command’s role in Operation Sindoor in May 2025. For that operational leadership, he received the Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal, one of the rarest wartime decorations awarded to only a handful of officers over decades. He also holds the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.
The Trust has presented the appointment as the introduction of professional management after months of financial controversy. In June 2026, an SIT was formed over discrepancies in the counting of temple offerings. An FIR followed, eight people were arrested, and General Secretary Champat Rai along with trustee Anil Mishra resigned. Banking alerts about cash-handling staff had been ignored for months. Earlier controversies, including a disputed land purchase in 2021 and repeated instances of fake donation portals, had already raised questions about internal controls. The Trust itself remains outside the Right to Information Act and is not subject to CAG audit.
Mishra takes charge of an institution that manages thousands of crores in public religious donations while its governing board continues to be dominated by the same set of ideological and political appointees who oversaw the earlier period of opacity. The selection process was formal and competitive on paper. The decision to place a recently retired four-star equivalent officer with a decorated combat record at the head of the organisation supplies an image of discipline and integrity at a moment when the Trust’s civilian leadership stands discredited.
More Read
Whether that military record will translate into genuine financial transparency, independent audit mechanisms and reduced political patronage remains to be seen. The underlying structure of the Trust, its exemption from ordinary public accountability norms, and the composition of its governing body have not changed. Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra brings a long and distinguished service record. The institution he now leads still carries the weight of the scandals that made the appointment necessary.
