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Auronet (https://auroville.org.in)
AUROVILLE LAND MATTERS
By Working Committee (WC) , 04 Nov 2024 / 09:55 pm
in Report Tags AUROVILLE LAND MATTERS
AUROVILLE LAND MATTERS
November 2024
We wish to bring transparency and share with the community the situation of the land purchase and
land exchanges. And some important facts about the Land Board.
- Mid 2022, the Auroville Foundation has appointed 2 Special officers to deal with the Land board
members about land matters including purchase and exchanges.
- In March 2023, the 4 executives of the Land board were not allowed to work on land Purchase and
Land exchange anymore. This work was assigned exclusively to the Special Officer Mrs M. with the
help of Mr K. The 4 executives became Land Service members instead of Land Board executives.
- 1st August 2023, Mr K was appointed as Land Board executive, by an Office Order from the
Auroville Foundation. Letters of protest with documented evidence were sent from the 4 Land Board
executives and by the Working Committee but without success to have him removed.
Brief summary of the land purchase and exchange situation.
1. 2022. Land Purchase by the Land Board members:
7,93 acres
7,17 acres in the City, 90%
0,76 acre in the Green Belt, 10 %
2. 2022. Land exchanges, mainly by the Land Board members:
9,21 acres
7,32 acres in the City, 80%
1,89 acre in the Green Belt, 20 %
3. 2023. Land exchanges only by the Auroville Special Officer Mrs M and Mr K
16,27 acres
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9,79 acres in the City 60%
6,47 acres in the Green Belt 40 %
12,5 acres oat AuroOrchard have been exchanged
Based on the market prices of the land in the Master Plan, the City and the Green Belt and the high
value of AuroOrchard at the Tindivanam Highway bypass, the exchange was done with unfair ratio in
favour of one land owner and Auro Oceanic, with a total loss for Auroville for 52,29 crores. These
exchanges were approved by the Auroville Foundation, the Secretary and the Land Committee.
4. 2024. Land Exchanges proposal, done only by the Auroville Foundation Special Officer Mrs M.
and Mr K. (12 land exchanges, most of it is done)
24,80 acres,
5,45 acres in the City 22 %
19,34 acres in the Green Belt 78 %
78 % of Green Belt land at less value, non-priority lands were exchanged with the best lands of
Auroville, Auro Orchard, Djaima, Felicity, with a very high market value. Exchanges done with unfair
ratio in favour of the land owners with a total loss for Auroville for 47,06 crores. These exchanges
were approved by the Auroville Foundation, the Secretary and the Land Committee.
Total loss C and D: 99,42 crores
This Land exchanges as described in C and D, were executed in total contradiction of the Governing
Board decision in its 61st meeting on 08-11-2022, to establish the Land Committee, it was recorded
in the meeting minutes as follows:
“The Board appointed a committee to analyse and approve land purchase and exchange
transactions including prices and exchange ratios as proposed by the Land Board for the purchase /
exchange of lands needed for the Auroville city area in the year 2021-22 and henceforth. The Board
suggested that for the meetings of the committee at least two Governing Board members, Secretary
AVF and OSD AVF should be present. Membership of the committee was approved as follows:
(followed by names and designations)”.
The words “......as proposed by the Land Board.....” may be taken note of. The numerous land
exchanges have been finalised, for which the proposals did not come from the Land Board and
without consultations with the Land Board. Also, from the above-mentioned Governing Board
meeting minutes, it is clear that the Land Committee was established for “lands needed for the
Auroville city area”. This raises a serious question on the processes being followed.
In the history of Auroville, we have never suffered such a level of mismanagement.
This state of affair was so shocking and alarming, that 2 members of the Working Committee
decided to do something not to repeat the exchanges of the best lands of Auroville against much
less value of lands in the Green Belt.
We are in favour of land exchanges, but it should be done with a priority for the City lands and with a
proper ratio based on the real value of the lands, and with full transparency and accountability.
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The Gazetted Auroville Foundation Rules 1997 say under point 4.1.D:
“The Governing Board shall have powers in consultation with the Working Committee and FAMC of
the Residents Assembly to acquire by purchase, lease, gift, or otherwise any immovable property
which may be necessary or convenient for the purpose of the Foundation.”
SOP on Land Exchange with the Auroville Foundation (see attached):
Point 5. The Working Committee will physically inspect the sites along with the Foundation officials
and check the land boundaries, infrastructure, access roads, residences, buildings, green cover etc.
with due diligence and submit their recommendations to the AV Foundation and the Governing
Board within 15 days.
Point 6. Recommendations of the Working Committee will be carefully evaluated by the AV
Foundation and the proposal will be finalised.
To be able to give a solid recommendation the Land Service team was reinforced by appointing 2
new members and one consultant.
However, we came to know in a conversation with Mrs. M. that she continues to meet the
landowners for future land exchanges. And we also discovered that a land exchange has been
approved again by the Governing Board and AVF, without any consultation with the Working
Committee
Therefore, we wrote a letter to the Chairman and the members of the Governing Board, which we are
sharing here:
Auroville 27th October 2024,
Honorable Chairman, dear Governing Board members,
We would like to share several updates on land matters with you.
On Wednesday 23.10.24 Working Committee members Selvaraj and Tine came to know that there
are 12 Land Exchange proposals ready to be signed in the Foundation. We tried to meet Dr
Seetharaman to get clarity, but he was in a long meeting with FAMC and we could not meet with
him. Instead, Tine met with OSD for Land Ms. M and discussed several topics with her.
1. Land Exchanges – Ms. M. did not confirm explicitly that land exchanges are ready to be
signed, but she confirmed that she is working on several exchanges and that the Working
Committee would be informed in time to give feedback before or after the proposals had gone
to the Land Committee.
In the meantime, the Working Committee received one land exchange proposal which is ready
to be registered, not from the official AV Foundation side but from another source. The
Working Committee has not been asked to give its recommendation.
This land exchange pertains to Mr. X (he is the Panchayat president of Edayanchavadi and
Irumbai) whose son owns 3 small disconnected pieces of land in the greenbelt, together 1.25
acre. The value of these 3 pieces in the Green Belt is much less than the 0.83 acre on the
Tindivanam Highway which is offered to Mr. X in exchange.
The profit he makes in this exchange would be around 5 crores.
This is according to the present market value.
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Pls see attached 2 maps. Mr. X is supposed to receive very valuable Auroville land on the
Tindivanam highway. The land Mr. X would offer to Auroville in exchange is not in the city as stated
but in the greenbelt. Also, the 3 small pieces of greenbelt land are totally not important for
Auroville’s development.
Our first reaction is, that instead of giving away our very valuable land on the Highway for
disconnected unimportant greenbelt pieces, we are of the opinion that we should rather keep these
valuable lands for important land exchanges like land on the Crown, the radials, the Ring Road, and
the Lines of Forces, which are essential to build the city and in general we have to concentrate on
exchanging the lands in the city first and not in the greenbelt, unless there are strategically
important pieces needed for city development. For example, there are village landowners on the
Crown waiting since years to exchange their land on the Crown with AVF but their offer is not
entertained by Mrs. M.
The Working Committee will give a detailed recommendation on this exchange with Mr. X to the GB
and AVF in a few days. We also request OSD Mrs. M. to kindly share the land exchanges which are
apparently in the pipeline with the Working Committee for our comments. Pls see attached again
the SOP for Land Exchange with AVF.
It may please be noted that when the Governing Board established the Land Committee in its
61st meeting on 08-11-2022, the decision of the Governing Board in this regard was recorded in the
meeting minutes as follows:
“The Board appointed a committee to analyse and approve land purchase and exchange
transactions including prices and exchange ratios as proposed by the Land Board for the purchase /
exchange of lands needed for the Auroville city area in the year 2021-22 and henceforth. The Board
suggested that for the meetings of the committee at least two Governing Board members, Secretary
AVF and OSD AVF should be present. Membership of the committee was approved as follows:
(followed by names and designations)”.
The words “......as proposed by the Land Board.....” may kindly be taken note of. We find, however,
that numerous land exchanges have been finalised, or are being finalised, for which the proposals
did not come from the Land Board and without consultations with the Land Board. Also, from the
above-mentioned Governing Board meeting minutes, it is clear that the Land Committee was
established for “lands needed for the Auroville city area”. This raises a question on the processes
being followed.
Even if it is for the city area, the ratio should be respected. The Land on the Tindivanam Highway has
much more value than the City land in Auroville.
2. City Peramboke exchange
28 acres of peramboke land need to be exchanged asap and we are working together with the Land
Service on a good proposal which is acceptable to the Collector, since these lands will go into
governmental hands. Our new proposal is to 75% ready. We need a little more time to finalize it. This
was agreed by the former Secretary and by OSD Land Ms. M. as well. Presently a proposal to
exchange Forecomers has been submitted by AVF but Forecomers should not be exchanged but
rather preserved for future generations. The lands of Forecomers are seamlessly consolidated with
the greenbelt masterplan, they are the first lands which were bought for Auroville in 1968, even
before Aspiration, and they are now acting as a buffer zone for Pondicherry city development plus
the Pondicherry sludge disposal sites which start right after Forecomers. Moreover, the TDF trees in
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Forecomers are worth hundreds of crores of rupees for which no compensation would be paid by
the Collector’s office.
3. Encroachments
Ms. M. agreed that the encroachments have to be addressed urgently. She explained the timeline to
be given to the encroachers to vacate, after which legal action has to follow. There is a growing list
of encroachments and in our new team is a lawyer who is willing to work exclusively on the
encroachments.
4. Locking of the Land Service office door with a biometric code
On Friday 18th of October, we learned that OSD Mrs. M. and K. (Land Board) have installed a
biometric lock at the Land Service office door which only Mr. K. can open with his fingerprints,
effectively locking out the staff and the Aurovilian Land Service members. Mrs. M. explained that
the reason for locking the door of the office is not to lock anybody out, but because there is a court
case against the former Secretary, and the land records for this court case must be protected. She
said Mrs. A. (secretary, Land Board) can also open the door and Mrs A. will give us the maps and
survey documents needed for our work. I assured Ms. M. that we will request Mrs A. help for the
maps and that the cupboards inside the office will remain locked. The office is also under CCTV
surveillance.
On Thursday 24th and Friday 25th we tried our level best to meet with Dr. Seetharaman to update
him about the meeting with Mrs. M. and to check with him regarding the 12 Land Exchanges, but he
was too busy and it was unfortunately not possible to meet him.
Saturday 26.10.24 the land service team together with the new members and consultant met in the
Land Service office. We had invited members of Shakti community to discuss a solution for
the garbage dumping of Kottakuppam Municipality inside Shakti community’s peramboke canyon.
The only solution to stop the garbage dumping seems to be an exchange of land with the
Kottakuppam Municipality which they can use for their garbage.
PKS court verdict
On 25th October 2024, unfortunately and to our great surprise and shock, the Tindivanam court
gave a verdict in favour of PKS in the case filed by the Auroville Foundation. After receiving the
Judgement copy from the court in a few days, we will see on what basis the Judge has given a
favourable verdict to PKS. Accordingly, a strategy will be put in place with our advocate for an
appeal at the High Court.
Best regards,
Selvaraj and Tine (Working Committee members)
Venkat and Rajavelu (Land Service), Jacques, Jayendra (new members Land Service), and Satyakam
(Consultant)
Attached files:
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SOP Land Exchange w AVF.docx (14.43 KB)
AL 61-12-13-14 , IR278-5, IR363-5A,5A2,5A3,4 - lands from Mr. X.png (808.99 KB)
IR110-7- Brihaspathi farm - AV Land Exchage to Mr. X.png (583.21 KB)
Working Committee introduction.docx (14.47 KB)
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Source URL: https://auroville.org.in/article/99148