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Report on land matters
PKS case
Court dates regarding PKS, who had forcibly occupied land near Evergreen, have been held on August 9th
and Aug 20th in Villupuram Court and are ongoing, the matter is to be concluded by mid October. Despite an
order to not undertake any development activities a small house has been constructed on the Ami Abri corner
plot, multiple complaints to the police have been made reg the same and on one occasion the police stopped
the construction works, however these resumed some days later. According to our purchase documents their
claims for land are incorrect. The case is to conclude mid October 2024. We hope that justice will prevail- Mailam Swami - selling Temple lands by way of lease-.
Samiyar is selling the lands belonging to the Mailam Mutt in Bommayarpalayam Survey No. 127/11 and 128/4
which are parcelled out as a housing plot layout. Since land donated to a temple cannot be legally registered
as a sale deed, under the Hindu Endowment Department, it appears that unregistered lease documents are
being issued on receipt of the sale price.
Articles reg Temple lands status
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2024/Mar/21/civil-court-cant-allow-transfer-of-temple-lan
d-madras-hc
https://kreately.in/supreme-court-judgement-on-ownership-of-land-in-hindu-temples/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/no-patta-for-those-living-on-temple-land/articleshow/99572219.
cms
Land exchange questioned by the Commissioner of Land Administration and Collector
Land Board and its AVFO members recently attempted an exchange of Auroville Patta land for Govt
Poramboke land, however the registration was refused due to queries from the Collector via the Land
Administration Commissioner, requesting proper permission documents as required to comply with laws and
regulations.
Purchases in the city area by outside parties
TV, Kannan purchased more land in Auroville, 4.24 acres located near the Matrimandir were acquired in Jan
and May via his company (Omsakti PVT LTD).
Earlier 10 acres were exchanged in AuroOrchard for plots in the city area (near Eco service, Santé and Grâce)
and newly purchased plots in the GBelt, he however retained 1.5 acres located by the elephant tower.
A family, (with Aurovilians members) sold the mm property to T.V.Kannan.
And another family, also with Aurovilian members, sold their city land to an outside party. An agreement made
with the Land Board for the purchase of this property (located by the Eucalyptus trees) was discarded by the
Land Board.
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An NOC (no objection certificate) was provided by Mr Ponambalam to a claimant of a property which was
being contested by the Land Board, the claimant is a relative of a land board member.
Land exchange by the AVFO has proved lucrative and has encouraged the problem of outside speculators. A
departure from our aim and efforts to entertain purchases from ancestral land owners with whom we live and
share the area.
Discrepancies in the exchanges done and rumours of corruption persist. Previously Auroville purchased land at
the negotiated market rates and registered the same. The AVFO admin is only using the low guideline value
for land exchanges of AV land but purchased land at the market rate.
The loss of Auroville land from encroachment is ongoing (with little intervention by the AVFO and/or their
nominated groups).
Srima has been facing loss of property by sea erosion, it is hoped that action to protect it will be taken, initially
the dropping of boulders was prevented by the local MLA and later the fisherman (which makes little sense as
they used the beach to park their fishing vessels), so far Aurovilians have been volunteering to assist with
stopgap efforts to hold back the erosion with geotextile cloth which apparently slows down the erosion by more
than 50 percent. Measures to make a seawall have been initiated through the visit of the director of the NCCR
(national center for coastal restoration).
Membership in Land Board
It is reported that Foundation Special Land Officer Mr Ponambalam, previously appointed to the Land Board,
has either resigned or been dismissed since June.
Raja and Satyakam had resigned earlier in March. That leaves the land board with Aurovilians; Venkat,
Rajavelu and Krishnamoorthy (who was appointed via the secretary) and non Avlian Mrs Meenakshi- also
special officer at the AVFO. Reportedly only Krishnamurthy now has access to Land Board emails and the
remaining members Venkat and Rajavelu no longer have access.
CPWD Surveyors surveying land outside the MP area
Surveyors have been seen surveying land outside the Master plan in the Kulapalayam areas, according to the
document of their contract dated 12-04-24 states: “Execution of project related to making of Auroville city as
per the Charter and Gazetted master plan and the original vison. SH: Carrying out digital toporaphical survey
at Auroville Campus for the area beyond outer rind road up to greenbelt region including merging of already
exsting drawing up to outer ring road and providing complete layout for entire Auroville from center to green
belt for Auroville town development planning work.”
It is not clear what “Auroville city are as per the Charter” means as there is no mention of town planning in the
charter, it is probably added to give some semblance of holy legitimacy. It is also not clear if the topographical
survey mentioning “.. beyond outer ring road up to greenbelt region including merging of already existing
drawing up to outer ring road” actually mean. Already existing what? communities? Leading one to wonder if
the AVFO has now decided to integrate the existing communities as opposed to the previous GB members in
their land committee meetings which stated the need to sell 1076 acres which woould include the areas being
surveyed. Nor is it clear what the “original vision” is as we know there are several sketches of the Auroville
town plan and the perspective 2025 has not been updated periodically since 2001 by the residents as required.
Other Topics
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In other News Donation Channelling Group continue to block funds and FAMC remove more
maintenances.
Several successful activities find their work hindered due to funds being blocked by the “Donation Channelling
Group” some places have also been requested to stop carrying out work in the region but rather to focus on
Auroville. One questions what the thinking behind these decisions really is as none of the larger picture goals
are actually shared nor the consequences of these policies, It is uncertain also if these are simply being
executed by the FAMC on behalf of a person or the GB or if these ideas are their own. Willl the blocked funds
affect the donors and wellwishers' relationship with Auroville? And what relevance does Auroville have in India
if it is prevented from sharing its skills and the fruits of its nurtured experimentation?
The GB FAMC claimed they wanted clean up Auroville, and no one would disagree with a simpler streamlined
accounting procedure that would providing the community with transparency and detailed reports to
understand and plan our our economy better, unfortunately there is no real understanding or knowledge in
accounting in the GB FAMC and as a result they are unable to even bring up the right questions to the
accountants that would reinforce Auroville’s internal economy and goals instead they simply implement
whatever is advised by the accountant who offers normal corporate type solutions.
That said, let us think of the welcome measure they have been able to instate:
Gpay instead of cash transactions is excellent and prevents corruption.
Other than that the failures largly overwhelm the good.
No movement to remove interdepartmental GST (Av has one PAN number it makes no sense that the inmates
pay GST for their in house services).
No questioning on the land exchanges that did not follow regulations and bringing loss of over 200 crores to
Auroville.
Discriminatory practices reg monthly contributions- only foreign residents are punished.
A few corrupt people were caught but immediatly reassigned to other posts (making the clean up attempt
laughable).