Fake FAQs on WCom judgement.pdf

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Response to FAQs on the Working Committee of the Residents

Assembly

1. What is the Working Committee exactly and why so much noise over it?

● The Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly is first and foremost merely a

body constituted by the Residents’ Assembly to assist the Residents’ Assembly to

discharge its functions, and as the case may be, the Governing Board also. The

Auroville Foundation Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) under Section 20 is very

clear on the subject.

● Therefore it may be understood at the outset that the Working Committee does not

have any decision-making powers, it is merely a secretarial body to assist the

discharge of the functions of the two bodies with direct functions to perform.

● In March 2020, the Residents’ Assembly formed a Working Committee composed of

Anu, Arun, Chali, Hemant L., Partha, Sauro, Srimoyi. This Working Committee had a

three-year term of office.

2. What happened in May 2022 when some members were removed, and some were

“voted out”?

● In May 2022, due to some severe dysfunctionality issues within the team, owing to

three of the appointed members refusing to collaborate with the city development

endeavours as decided by the Governing Board, the Working Committee took an

internal decision to remove the dissenting three members by a majority vote. This

was permissible by the Participatory Working Groups 2022 (PWG 2022) document

which was ratified by the Residents Assembly under “Removal of members”. The

majority four, Anu, Arun, Partha and Srimoyi, also chose three interim members,

Joseba, Tine & Selvaraj, so that the work may continue unhindered.

Excerpt PWG 2022:

“Removal of Members during the term

To be Member of a working group implies effective participation, conscientious

presence and teamwork. Members who are not executing their work as assigned by

the group and/or turn out to be ill-matched with the team can – after all attempts of

integration have failed – be asked by the Working Group to step out.”

● Aggrieved, the removed three members - or the “breakaway group” - organised

general meetings in Auroville and attempted a “Residents’ Assembly Decision

Making Process” I.e. voting amongst Residents to remove the majority four who

were supportive of the decisions of the Governing Board to develop the city.

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● This action was illegitimate on two counts. One, there is no scope for the Residents’

Assembly to organise voting at whim and throw out the majority of members out of

the Working Committee. The Participatory Working Groups (PWG) 2022 has no

inbuilt mechanism for this. Nor does such a parallel exist in a functional democracy

either. Two, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) had issued an order on 06.05.22

asking the Residents’ Assembly to pause all decision making until the Register of

Residents (RoR) was updated, before the voting was concluded on 08.05.22.

● To be noted, the Madras High Court in its judgement dated 01.08.2024 has upheld

that this removal of members and the appointment of the three interim members is

legitimate and in accordance with established procedures i.e. the PWG 2022.

Excerpt from the Order dt. 01.08.24:

“60. In the present case, the register of members of the Residents' Assembly is itself

a work-in-progress. Thus a decision in regard to qualification can be taken only after

the Register of Residents is updated and finalised. R1 to R7 draw authority and

sustenance from the admitted position that, R1 to R4 (Anuradha Legrand,

Parthasarathy Krishnan, Arun Selvam, Srimoyi Rossegger) were selected in

accordance with the PWG procedure in 2021 and R5 to R7 (Ingeborg Christine

Neuman Zimm (Tine), Jose Eusebio Martinez Burdaspar (Joseba), Selvaraj

Damodaran) replaced the break-away group in April 2022.

61. The removal of the members of the break-away group is in accordance with

the procedure provided for such removal in the PWG document. It is not denied

that R1 to R7 have attained the age of majority and their names also find place in the

members of the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly is found to be

legitimate, with requisite authority.”

3. What is this “order of the OSD” exactly?

● Why did the OSD pass this order? First, the OSD passed this order because the

Governing Board in its previous meeting asked for the RoR to be updated as a

priority exercise. Since a cursory verification of the RoR, previously updated in 2005,

revealed names of people who had left since decades, who were deceased, it was

the next legitimate step to announce “no voting until the voters list is clear”.

● Was it legitimate? The OSD’s order was challenged by Hemant Lamba in a Writ

Petition in 2022 at the Madras High Court. A single-judge bench did allow the Writ

Petition I.e. quashed the order of the OSD stating that such an order was outside his

jurisdiction. However, the single-judge bench order was challenged in a Writ Appeal

filed by the Auroville Foundation, and the Chief Justice Bench stayed the

single-judge bench order within 8 days of it being issued. So the answer is yes, the

OSD order is upheld by the court of law as having full legitimacy.

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● Further, the recent Madras High Court order dated 01.08.24 recognizes the authority

of the OSD as follows:

“52. On the other hand, the Register that has been submitted by the OSD at the

behest of R8, along with a tabulation of the various particulars relating to the

contents thereof, reveals a totally different picture with only 1861 members.

53. The OSD has been appointed in terms of the Section 15(3), in terms of which,

the Governing Board may appoint such other officers and employees as may be

necessary for the efficient performance of its functions. Section 17 sets out the

powers and functions of the Governing Board as follows [...]

55. In terms of Clause (d) of Section 17, it is the Governing Board which is vested

with the power of monitoring and review of the activities of Auroville and to

secure proper management of the property vested in the Foundation as well as

other properties of Auroville. Thus, it is the OSD who, as on date, is the proper

authority to oversee the functioning of the Foundation, as confirmed by the

interim orders granted by this Court. I would thus go by the status as confirmed by

the OSD.”

● In summary, yes, the OSD’s order to pause all decision making by the Residents’

Assembly until the RoR was updated was upheld by the court of law and till date

continues to be in effect.

4. The RoR updation - why was it required and what was the delay caused by?

● The RoR updation exercise was started in May 2022 as per the directions of the

Governing Board. Under Section 18, the Secretary is empowered to maintain the

● To be a Resident of Auroville, one must live and work in Auroville (minimum 6 hours

a day 6 days a week or 5 hours a day 7 days a week) as per the guidelines given by

The Mother. Apart from this, Residents have to adhere to the “Values guiding the

Collective life of Auroville” that all persons sign upon becoming accepted as

Residents before the signing of the B-form.

● Additionally foreign Residents must either live in Auroville on an OCI or on an Entry

X Visa specifically issued for the purpose of living and working in Auroville.

● A form to fill out was sent out to all Residents with some mandatory fields and some

non-mandatory fields.

● From the very beginning there was a section of Residents who refused to have

anything to do with this exercise and simply refused to fill out the form and provide

the basic necessary data.

● A door-to-door verification exercise of habitation, of confirmation of workplace and

documentation, was launched which also met with immense resistance from a

section of Residents.