Religious and charitable trusts in India often escape the statutory audit rigour applicable to public bodies. Critically examine, with a recent example.

Public bodies face CAG audit and legislative scrutiny under Article 149, but religious and charitable trusts are policed mainly through self-procured, conditional audits under tax and endowment law. The Ayodhya donations row shows the gap is real, though not total.

Where the rigour is weak

• Conditional, private audit: a trust registered under Section 12A/12AB must file an audit report in Form 10B/10BB only where income before exemption exceeds the taxable threshold, certified by a chartered accountant of its own choice — not a public auditor [1].
• Anonymous donation blind spot: Section 115BBC keeps wholly religious trusts outside the 30% tax on anonymous donations, so hundi and cash receipts need no donor identification — the weakest traceability link in the chain [2].
• No legislative accountability: reports go to the tax department, not to Parliament or a State legislature, so no public Action Taken trail exists as for CAG-audited bodies [1].

Where oversight does exist

• Registration is revocable: 12AB registration runs for a limited term and exemption under Sections 11–12 can be withdrawn for misapplication of funds [3].
• Foreign funds are tightly held: under FCRA, associations file audited Form FC-4 returns, and the MHA can audit and inspect accounts under Sections 20 and 23 [4].
• Judicial-executive backstop: in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust donations case, a Bench of CJI Surya Kant left the probe to a UP-police SIT, took its status report in sealed cover, and routed public suggestions through the Solicitor-General's office [5].

The example is instructive: oversight was triggered only after allegations and litigation, by an investigative agency — not by any routine audit. That is the core defect. A calibrated fix — extending mandatory annual disclosure of large donations, uniform accounting standards for high-receipt trusts, and independent audit of institutions handling mass public offerings — would protect donor confidence without intruding on Article 26 rights of religious denominations to administer their own property.