AYODHYA, July 8 -- Treasurer of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Govind Dev Giri, on Tuesday asserted that negligence on part of the Trust, too much faith in a driver by former general secretary Champat Rai and the bank's failure to interview the staff properly led to this unwarranted situation. "The Trust should have been more vigilant. It was negligence on their part," said Giri. Describing Rai as a person who devoted his life to the Ram temple's cause, Giri said his only mistake was that he trusted the wrong people. He said: "Champat Rai is untainted, but his style of functioning created a big crisis. He placed trust in the wrong people. I have known him for 32 years. But excessive simplicity does not work when you are in an administrative position." On Ram Shankar Yadav alias 'Tinnu Yadav', a close confidante and driver of Rai, Giri said: "Having too much faith in a driver was a big mistake." Replying to a query, Giri said along with others, bureaucrats associated with the Trust also bear responsibility for the lapse. Responding to a query over construction committee chairman Nripendra Misra referring to the alleged financial irregularities at the temple as an "open robbery", he said if anybody else knew about the whole thing, then why no one alerted about it earlier. "Nripendra Mishra also had administrative responsibility," he added. Saying that the absence of the CEO led to such a situation happening in the first place, the treasurer said that the Trust has formed a committee to select and recommend three names, with the trust finally deciding on one person. Giri clarified that the chief executive officer of the Ram temple will be a salaried employee. He added that the committee formed for selecting the CEO includes people with experience of managing the Shirdi Sai Temple. "Army officers will also give suggestions on discipline," he said. On the role of SBI, which handles all cash collections from donation boxes, Giri said: "SBI is also a reputed institution. It would not be appropriate to terminate the contract with it. However, this will be discussed in the Trust meeting." He said the Trust will build a more transparent system with proper mechanisms so that there is no scope for irregularities in future. htc...