More
Murder
in Paradise
Auroville is just another garden of good and evil (soap
opera and passion play) there are forces in Auroville unreconciled to
the utopian ideals fostered by the Auroville Manifesto. Passions flare
when displacement from one's home and sustenance is part of the price
of cosmic perfection in the unity of beings all over the world.
From
the Hindu
Monday,
Feb 02, 2004
Tamil
Nadu
Dutch
national found dead at Auroville
By Our Special Correspondent
VILLUPURAM, FEB. 1. A Dutch national, Sytze Douwe Van Loo (39), was
found dead at his residence at Auroville, Udumbu, near here today.
The police suspect he was attacked with sharp weapons in the head and
arms. The phone had stains of blood and things were found scattered
all over.
A special police team and forensic experts rushed to the spot. The township
of Auroville will remain closed to all visitors for three days from
tomorrow. The working committee, Auroville Foundation, said the Matrimandir
and the Visitors' Reception Centre would also remain closed on these
days. Mr. Sytze Douwe Van Loo had been living in Auroville since 1996.
The Dutch Embassy in New Delhi and the Dutch Consulates in Chennai and
Mumbai have been informed of the incident
Live the Truth of Tomorrow
Indian Maiden, Auroville
auroville native
Native Aurovillian Tribal with celebratory garb in habitat. Margaret
Mead would be flummoxed by this indigenous tribal of Tamil Nadu. If
Franz Boaz were to behold this enclave, his entire lifes work would
be undone. It can only be guessed what Zora Neale Hurston might spin
of the passions of Auroville; a combination of the Gilded Six Bits and
Go Tell My Horse.
Auroville Tsunami
excruciation
|
Note: This case is not so well known as the Ramakrishna Mission
and Arya Samaj petitions. When the Central Government set up a probe to
enquire into reports of mismanagement and diversion of govt. funds by
Sri Aurobindo Society, the society sought minority status from the Supreme
Court. The Supreme Court dismissing the petition, quoted from the teachings
of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. This is the most ineteresting part of the
judgement and relevant extracts have been posted. Important passages have
been highlighted in bold for the benefit of readers.EXTRACTS FROM THE
JUDGEMENT
DELIVERED BY
THE CONSTITUTION BENCH OF
THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
ON 8 NOVEMBER 1982
IN
AUROVILLE CASE
The first two petitions under Article
32 of the Constitution of India filed in this Court and the third under
Article 226 of the Con-stitution filed in the Calcutta High Court and
later on transferred to this Court, seek to challenge the vires of the
Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Ordinance, 1980 (Ordinance No. 19 of.
1980), later, on replaced by the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act,
1980 .(Act No. 59 of 1980). The fourth is an appeal by special leave against
the order of the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court dated 21st.
of November, 1980 vacating the interim order passed by a single judge
in the writ petition. All these cases raise common questions of constitutional
importance and, therefore, they were posted before the Constitution Bench.
... The disciples and devoted followers of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
with a view to propagate and practise the ideals and beliefs of Sri Aurobindo
formed a Society called Sri Aurobindo Society in the year 1960. The petitioner
Society at all material times was and is still a Society duly registered
under the provisions of the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961.
This Society is completely distinct from Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry
...
. . . The Mother as the founder-president also conceived of a project
of setting up a cultural township known as 'Auroville' where- people of
different countries are expected to engage in cultural, educati-onal and
scientific and other pursuits aiming at human unity. The Society has been
a channel of funds for setting up the cultural township known as- Auroville..
At the initiative of the Government of, India, -the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation being of the opinion that the Auroville
project would contribute to international under-standing and promotion
of peace sponsored the project by proposing a resolution to this effect
at its General Conference in 1966 * This resolution was unanimously adopted
at this Conference. By a further resolution passed in 1968 the UNESCO
invited its member States and international non-governmental organisations
to participate in the development of Auroville as an international cultural
township to bring together the values of different cultures and civilisations
in a harmoni-ous environment with integrated living standards which correspond
to men's physical and spiritual needs. 1970 UNESCO had directed its Director-General
to take such steps as may be feasible, within the budgetary provisions
to promote the development of Auroville as an important international
cultural programme. Sri Aurobindo Society received large funds in the
shape of grants from different organisations in India and abroad for development
of the township. The assistance included contributions from the State
Governments of the value of Rs.66.50 lakhs and the Central Government
of the value of Rs.26.14 lakhs.
After the death of the Mother on 17th of November 1973 a number of problems
of varying nature affecting the smooth running of the .project cropped
up. The Government of India on receiving complaints about mismanagement
of the project and misuse of funds by Sri Auro-bindo Society set up a
committee under the chairmanship of the Governor of Pondicherry with representatives
of the Government of Tamil Nadu and of the Ministry of Home Affairs in
the Central Government to look into the matter. The committee made a detailed
scrutiny of the accounts of Sri Aurobindo Society relating to Auroville
and found instances of serious irregularities in the management of the
Society, misutilisation of its funds and their diversion to other purposes.
Further, various other serious difficulties had arisen pla-guing the management
of Auroville and rendering thereby any further growth of the township
almost impossible in the circumstances that taking over of the management
of, Auroville became imperative to ensure growth of the township in tune
with its objectives.
Keeping in view the international character of the project and considering
the government's involvement. in actively, sponsoring the project through
UNESCO, the growth and management of the project had become the primary
responsibility of the Government of India. The ideals of the project formed
India's highest aspirations, which could not be allowed to be defeated
or frustrated. Sri Aurobindo Society had lost complete control over the
situation and the members of the Auroville approached the Government of
India to give protection against oppression and victimisation at the hands
of the said Society. There were internal quarrels between the various'
factions of Sri Aurobindo Society. There have also been instances of law
and order situation. Financial management of the project has not been
sound and several instances of mismanagement, diversion of funds have
been revealed . ......
...The Constitutional validity of the Act has been challenged on four
grounds:
1. Parliament has no legislative competence to enact the impugned statute.
2. The impugned Act infringes Articles 25, 26, 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
3. The impugned Act is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution;
and
4. The Act was mala fide ...
In The Commissioner, Hindu Religious Endowments, Madras v. Lakshmindra
Thirtha Swamiar of Sri Shirur Mutt wherein the ' following propositions
of law have been laid down:
(1) Religion means "a system of beliefs or doctrines which are regarded
by those who profess that religion as conducive to their spiritual well-being."
(2) A religion is not merely an opinion, doctrine
or belief. It has its outward expression in acts as well.
(3) Religion need not be theistic.
(4) "Religious denomination" means a religious sect or body
having a common faith and organisation and designated by a distinctive
name.
(5) A law which takes away the rights of administration from the
hands of a religious denomination altogether and vests in another authority
would amount to violation of the right guaranteed under clause (d) of
Art. 26.
The aforesaid propositions have been consistently followed in later cases
including The Durgah Committee, Ajmer & Anr. v. Syed Hussain Ali &
Ors. and can be regarded as well settled.
The words "Religious denomination" in Article 26 of the Constitution
must take their colour from the word 'religion' and if this be so, the
expression "religious denomination" must also satisfy three
conditions:
(1) It must be a collection of individuals who have a system of beliefs
or doctrines which they regard as conducive to their spiritual well-being,
that is, a common faith;
(2) common organisation; and
(3) designation by a distinctive. name.
In view of the propositions laid down. by the Court in the aforesaid reported
cases we have to examine the teachings of Sri Aurobindo to see whether
they constitute a religion...
The Solicitor-General for the Union of India and Mr. F. S. Nariman, counsel
for the respondents Nos. 6 to 238 (resident members of Auroville), on
the other hand contended that the teachings of Sri Aurobindo do not constitute
religion nor is the Society and the Auroville a religious denomination,
and in any case there is no violation of article 26 of the Constitution
in as much as the impugned Act has taken over only the management of Auroville
from the Society and does not interfere with the freedom contemplated
by Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution.'
Reference was made to rule 9 of the Rules and Regulations of Sri Aurobindo
Society, which deals with membership of the Society -dnd provides:
"9. Any person or institution or organisation either in India or
abroad who subscribes to the aims and objects of Society, and whose application
for membership is approved by the Executive Committee, will be member
of the Society. The membership. is open to people everywhere without any
distinction of nationality, religion, caste, creed or sex".
The only condition for membership
is that the person seeking the membership of the Society must subscribe
to the aims and objects of the Society. It was further urged that what
is. universal cannot be a religious denomination. In order to constitute
a separate denomi-nation, there must be something distinct from another.
A denomination, argues the counsel, is one which is different from the
other and if the Society was a religious denomination, then the person
seeking admission to the institution would lose his previous religion.
He cannot be a member of two religions at one and the same time. But this
is not the position in becoming a member of the Society and Auroville.
A religious denomination must necessarily be a new one and new methodology
must be provided for a religion...
1... The Society itself treated Auroville not as a religious institu-tion.
Auroville is a township which was conceived, planned and developed as
a centre of international culture for the promotion of the ideals which
are central to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO). These ideals have been explained and proclaimed
extensively in the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. In the year
1966, Sri Aurobindo Society, devoted as it was to the teachings of Sri
Aurobindo and guided by the Mother, proposed this cultural township to
UNESCO for the commemoration of the 20th, anniversary of the UNESCO. The
Union of India took up the matter with UNESCO and it did so on the explicit
understanding that Auroville as proposed was in full consonance and conformity
with India's highest ideals and aspirations and that would help Auroville
promote the aims and objects of UNESCO...
... The foundation stone of Auroville was laid on 28th February 1968 with
the participation of youth of many nations, representing the coming together
of all Nations in a spirit of human unity. The UNESCO conceived Auroville
township as an instrument of education, promoting mutual respect and understanding
between people in keeping with the spirit of Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and Universal Declaration of Principles of International
Cultural Cooperation.
The Government of India took active part in making the UNESCO interested
in the project and take decision as aforesaid for the develop-ment of
Auroville as an international cultural township with the parti-cipation
of countries who are members of the UNESCO.
Sri Aurobindo Society had brought the proposal of Auroville to the Government
of India and explained that Auroville was to be an international and cultural
township. This fact is evident from the brochure submitted by Sri Aurobindo
Society to the Government of India.
The Charter of Auroville given by the Mother also indicates that it is
not a religious institution, as is evident from the following:
1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity
as a whole. But to live in Auroville one must be the willing servitor
of the Divine Consciousness.
2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of
constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking
advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will
boldly spring towards future realisations.
4. Auroville will be the site of material and spiritual research
for a living embodiment of an actual
Human Unity.
On the own admission of the General Secretary of Sri Aurobindo Society,
Pondicherry, Auroville was to be a symbol of international cooperation,
an effort to promote international understanding by bringing together
in close juxtaposition the values and ideals of different civilisations
and cultures. The cultures of different regions of the earth will be represented
in Auroville in such a way as to be accessible to all not merely intellectually
in ideas, theories, principles and languages, but also in habits and customs;
art in all forms - pain-tings, sculpture, music, architecture, decor,
dance; as well as physically through natural scenery, dress, games, sports
and diet. It will be a representation in a concrete and living manner;
it will have a museum, an art gallery, a library of books, recorded music
etc. It will also have other objects which will express its intellectual,
scientific and artistic genius, spiritual tendencies and national characteristics.
While participating in UNESCO meeting "Design for Integrated Living
Programmes in Auroville" was presented and that also goes a long
way to show that it was only a cultural township and not a religious institution.
Numerous utterings by Sri Aurobindo or the Mother unmistakably show that
the Ashram or Society or Auroville is not a religious institu-tion. In
Sri Aurobindo's own words (The Teaching and the Ashram of Sri Aurobindo,
1934, p . 6):
"The Ashram is not a religious association. Those who are here come
from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set
of dogmas, no governing religious body; there are only the teachings of
Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and
meditation, etc. for the enlarging of the
consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the
discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human
being, a higher evolution of the nature."
Sri Aurobindo himself said:
"I may say that it ii far from my purpose to propagate any religion,
new or old."
Sri Aurobindo says again-" We are not a party or a church or religion."
Sri Aurobindo exposes:
"Churches and creeds have, for example, stood violently in the way
of philosophy and science, burned a Giordano Bruno, imprisoned a Galileo,
and so generally misconducted themselves in this matter that philosophy
and science had in self-defence to turn upon Religion and rend her to
pieces in order to get a free field for. their legitimate development.-
The Mother said on 19.3.1973: " Here we do not have religion.-
Sri Aurobindo says again:
Yogic methods have something of the same relation to the customary psychological
workings of man as has to scientific handling of the natural force of
electricity or of steam to the normal operations of steam and of electricity.
And the two, are formed upon a knowledge developed and confirmed by regular
experiments, a practical analysis and constant results. All methods grouped
under the common name of Yoga are special psychological processes grounded
on a fixed truth of nature and developing, out of normal functions, powers
and results which were always latent but which her ordinary movements
do not easily or do not often manifest."
It is pertinent to quote Mother's answer to a question:
"Q. Sweet Mother, what is the difference between Yoga and religion?
Mother's Ans: Ah! My child. . It is as though you were asking me the difference
between a dog and cat."
.There can be no better proof than what Sri Aurobindo and the Mother themselves
thought of their teachings and their institutions to find out whether
the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and his Integral Yoga constitute a religion
or a philosophy. The above utterings from time to time by Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother hardly leave any doubt about the nature of the institution.
It was on the basis that it was not a religious institution that the Society
collected funds from the Central Government and the Governments of States
and from abroad and the other non-governmental agencies....
... Mr. F. S. Nariman appearing for respondents Nos.6 to 238 '(Members
of Auroville) adopted the arguments advanced by the Solicitor General,
Mr. K. Parasaran, and supplemented the same. He submitted that the Society
was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and a purely
religious society could not have been registered under the Societies Registration
Act. Section 20 of the Societies Registration Act provides what kind of
societies can be registered under the Act. It does not talk of religious
institutions, Of course, it includes- a society with charitable purposes.
Section 2 of the Charitable Endowments Act, however, excludes charity
as a religious purpose. It was further contended that the nature of the
institution can be judged by the Memorandum of Association. The Memorandum
of Association does not talk of any religion. The purpose of the Society
was to make known to the member s and the people in general the aims and
ideals of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother; their system of Integral Yoga
and to work for its fulfilment in all possible ways; to train selected
students and teachers from all over the world in the Integral System of
Education, i.e. the spiritual, psychic, mental, vital and physical to
help in cash or in kind by way of donations etc. ; to organise, encourage,
promote and assist in the study, research, and pursuit of science, literature
and fine arts etc. Nowhere it talks of propagating religion. This is the
surest index to know whether the Auroville or the Society was a religious
institution.
It was further contended that a religious denomination must be professed
by that body but from the very beginning the Society has eschewed the
word 'religion' in its constitution. The Society professed to be a scientific
research organisation to the donors and got income-tax exemption on the
footing that it was not a religious institution. The Society has claimed
exemption from income-tax under s.80 for the donors and under s. 35 for
itself on that ground. Ashram Trust was different from Auroville Ashram.
The Ashram trust also applied for income-tax exemption and got it on that
very ground. So also Aurobindo Society claimed exemption on the footing
that it was not a religious institution and got it. They professed to
the Government also that they were not a religious institution in their
application for financial assistance under the Central scheme of Assistance
to voluntary Hindu organisations.
On the basis of the materials placed before us viz., Memorandum of Association
of the Society, the several applications made by the Society claiming
exemption under s.35 and s.80 of Income-tax Act, the repeated utterings
of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother that the Society and Auroville were not
religious institutions and host of other docu-ments there is no room for
doubt that neither the Society nor Auro-ville constitute a religious denomination
and the teachings of Sri Aurobindo only represented his philosophy and
not a religion...
... This leads us to the third ground, namely, the impugned Act being
violative of Article 14 of the Constitution inasmuch as Sri Aurobindo
Society has been singled out for hostile treatment, and the legislation
is against this particular institution. In order to appreciate this, argument
it would be necessary to refer to the circumstances,which led to the passing
of the impugned Act. . .
... For the first few years the development of Auroville showed a remarkable,
progress and things were growing at a rapid pace. A number of Indians
and foreigners settled down in Auroville and devoted themselves to various
activities of planning, designing, agriculture, education, construction
and other works such as those of hand-made paper and other crafts and
industries. A remarkable harmony among members of Auroville was visible
and this gave promise to the Government of India of an early fulfilment
of the ideals for which Auroville was established and encouraged by UNESCO
and other international organisations of the world.
After the passing away of the Mother
in 1973. however, the situation changed and the Government received information
that the affairs of the Society were not being properly managed, that
there was mismanagement of the funds of the Society and diversion of the
funds meant for Auroville to other purposes.
The accounts of Sri Aurobindo Society were audited up to the year ending
31st December, 1974. For the years 1960 to 1971 the audit was conducted
by late Shri Satinath Chattopadhyaya, Chartered Accountant and for the
years 1972 to 1974 by Shri T.R. Thulsiram, Chartered Accountant and Internal
Auditor of the Society. The letter addressed by him to the President,
Sri Aurobindo Society dated May 269 1976 relating to the affairs of Bharat
Niwas as on 31st March, 1976 is revealing one and the relevant portion
is extracted below:
"Thus we have an unutilised deficit of about 10 lakhs at the end
of 31-12-74 and of about 12 lakhs at the end of 1975 or up to 31-3-76.
The situation has not improved until now. The activities of construction
have almost come to a close after 31-12-74. Fur-ther, there are heavy
bank over-drafts apart from the reduction in D.O. facilities and freezing
of the money in D.O. account. Therefore, In these circumstances it is
clearly seen that government monies received for the specific purpose
of Bharat Niwas have been diverted for other purposes and there are no
more free liquid resources either as cash or in bank accounts. So we cannot
explain saying that monies are immediately available for construction
and that the construction activities are being continued without stop.
This really is a serious matter that calls for the proper solution.
Therefore, in the above circumstances, it is absolutely necessary that
earlier steps be taken to correct the situation, before serious audit
objections are raised by the Government Auditors. We are afraid to say
that we ourselves would be constrained to make a qualified report of audit,
if the state of affairs does not get corrected immediately."
The situation in Auroville became so acute that at the instance of the
Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, an enquiry was conducted
in 1976 by the Chief Secretary, Pondicherry, into certain aspects of the
functioning of Sri Aurobindo Society. The report of the Chief Secretary
mentioned instances of serious irregularities in the management of the
Society, suspected misuse of funds and auditors' comments about the misutilisation
of funds and its diversion, and it was suggested that a further probe
in the financial matters of the Society and organisations connected with
the Auroville Project may be made by a team of competent auditors...
An important finding of this Committee was that the earlier apprehension
about instances of serious irregularities in the manage-ment of the Society,
misutilisation of the fund and the diversion was confirmed. This Committee
also submitted to the Government of India two volumes of the audit report.
Some of the other impor-tant findings of the Committee based on audit
reports were as follows:
"The professional services required from Architects for the cons-truction
of Phase I of Bharat Niwas were not rendered by them and still full payment
was made to these architects.
"Rs.13.30 lacs sanctioned by various State Governments for construction
of pavilions of their respective States were diverted and utilised towards
construction in Bharat Niwas for common zone facilities - this was without
the approval of the State Government.
"Whilst the books of Bharat Niwas show that there was an unutilised
balance of Rs.22.64 lacs the Project was without any liquid resources
- thus showing that moneys received out of Govt. grants were diverted
for other activities notwithstanding that this position was brought to
the notice of the Society by their statutory auditor in its letter dated
26-5-76.
"Although there was no fresh receipt of steel in Bharat Niwas Phase
2 the stock was purportedly revalued at a higher rate of Rs. 2000 per
metric ton against the earlier rate of Rs.1700 per metric ton adopted
on 31-12-73. This resulted in an over-statement of the value of stock
to the amount of Rs. 42,000/-.
"There was a transfer of materials of stock worth Rs. 2.30 lacs to
Auro Stores by a journal entry on 31-12-75. Auro Stores is a concern of
Navjattas. The audit team concluded that as a result of this there was
an unreal expenditure which had not resulted in outflow of resources and
resulted in overstatement of expenditure on Bharat Niwas.
“An undischarged amount of Rs. 1.45 lacs payable to the contractors
Messrs E.C.C. Ltd. towards the construction of Bharat Niwas stood included
in total expenditure as on 31.12.74 – the utilisation certificates
furnished with regard to total expenditure -were held to be incorrect
to that extent.
"Although materials purchased out of Govt. grants could not be hypothecated
without the approval of the Government the Society hypothecated steel
from Auro Stores and obtained a loan of Rs. 6.88 lacs from the State Bank
of India - resulting in an expenditure of interest charge of Rs. 9561.40
which was held to be inadmissible and an irregularity.
"Although the Society completed construction of Health Centre in
Dec. 1973 at a total cost of over Rs. 2 lacs and the Health Centre started
functioning from Dec. 1973 the Society had not furnished the utilisation
certificate in the prescribed form nor was the completion report duly
certified by the PWD authorities.
" Rs. one lac was stated to have been received for the "Project
of World University" - and the money was stated to be utilised. There
is no such World University in Auroville.
"A difference of Rs. 1,29,848/- was noticed in the case of the value
of a piece of land purchased - the value of the land said to have been
purchased and not entered in the register was Rs. 88,525/- and the amount
said to have been paid in excess of the value for the land actually purchased
was Rs. 31,322/-
"The operation of purchase of lands was through individuals who were
given huge sums of money as advances. It was noticed that in one transaction
an amount of Rs. 43,250/- representing the balance out of advance paid
to one V. Sundermurthy was adjusted as being the cost of stamp papers
whilst adjusting all other advances during 1971. The voucher for this
amount also did not give the details of the document numbers in respect
of which stamp papers worth Rs. 43,250/- were used.
"In 1975-76 land to the extent of 23.86 acres was purchased at the
cost of Rs. 91,496/- but was registered in the names of four individuals
and the value of the lands so registered in individual names wore treated
as advances to these individuals. The names of these individuals were
“Maggi”, “Kali”, “Shyamala” and "Ravindra
Reddy".
"The audit team found that assets and liabilities of the project
were overstated to the extent of Rs.5,10,670/-
"The balance-sheet of Auroville Project has been so framed that the
assets side does not throw any fight as to whether the corres-ponding
assets from donations have been acquired and the problem is aggravated
by the fact that a register of assets is not maintained.
"There was a complete lack of financial control which was the most
serious drawback of the system and this want of financial control was
revealed in a number of established and conventional procedures which
would have serious implications.
"It was not possible for the Audit Team to establish nor the Society
could establish that moneys paid were really exchanged with certain materials
or goods of corresponding value. The lack of adequate scrutiny resulted
in the fact that in most of the cases the bills were not supported by
adequate details of materials having been passed.
"The expenditure of Auroville project working out to nearly 3 crores,
there was no system of control of expenditure - no rules and regulations
or procedures according to which a particular individual or office bearer
could incur an expenditure only upto a particular limit and not above
that. Persons who were authorised to operate bank accounts had full authority
to draw as they wanted and there was no system of reporting or feed-back.
"In view of the large scale construction activities, large amounts
of stores materials of various descriptions were being handled by the
project. We have not come across proper records of stores and stock accounts
being maintained by the project. This indeed was a serious drawback since
in the absence of such a system it was not possible to verify from the
records that the moneys which were shown as having been spent for purchase
of materials were really paid in exchange of the materials of the required
quantity and quality and whether the material purchased was actually received
by the project, whether the quantity which was shown as having been utilised
for the construction has been actually so utilised and the balance of
stores which represented by the value was the real balance representing
the various stock items.
"Huge amounts of cash were being handled by persons operating the
main account and the number of individuals who were given advances - there
was no system under which cash could be verified at any interval.
"Even apart from the audit report, one very important point may be
mentioned. The Society has been claiming that they have been holding more
than Rs. 20 lacs in reserve in the account of Aurobindo Society to meet
their obligations with regard to Auroville. And yet the Society has incurred
heavy debts in the name of Auroville and allocated huge accumulation of
interest to the extent of Rs. 20 lacs."
The Committee came to the conclusion that the time was ripe for taking
recourse to either of the following two alternatives:
(a) Incorporation of Sri Aurobindo Society by a statute as a society of
national importance and bringing it under Entry 63 of the Union List of
the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution;
(b) Take-over of the management of Auroville project by the Government
for a limited period by legislation under Art. 31 (A) (1) (b) of the Constitution.
. .
…There had arisen acute law and order situation in the Auroville.
. . the funds meant for the Auroville had been diverted towards other
purposes and the atmosphere was getting out of hand. In the circums-tances
the Government intervened and promulgated the Ordinance and later on substituted
it by the impugned enactment. It cannot be said that it is violative of
Article 14...
... Obviously, there were serious irregularities in the management of
the said Society as has been pointed out in the earlier part of the judgement.
There has been misutilisation of funds and their diversion to other purposes.
This is evident from the audit report. There was no material change in
the situation on the date of the impugned ordi-nance or the Act, rather
the situation had grown from bad to worse and the sordid situation prevailing
in the Auroville so pointed out by the parties fully justified the promulgation
of the Ordinance and the passing of the enactment... The amount donated
for the construction of the cultural township Auroville and other institutions
was to the tune of Rs. 3 crores. It was the responsibility of the Government
to see that the amount was not misutilised and the management was properly
carried out . . .
... Mr Venugopal tried to explain the various adverse remarks made by
the auditors. On a perusal of the audit report, which is a voluminous
one, all we can say is that on the facts found by the audit committee,
the report is rather a mild one. There seems to be serious irregularities
in the accounts. A substantial amount received by way of donations had
not been properly spent, there being misutilisation and diversion of funds
...
... Now we turn to the last but not the least important ground of mala
fides. The Act is sought to be challenged on the ground that it is mala
fide. This argument is on the basis that Kireet Joshi who had his own
axe to grind in the matter, was instrumental in getting the impugned Ordinance
and the Act passed. This argument has been advanced only to be rejected.
Allegations about mala fides are more easily made than made out. It will
be too much to contend that Kireet Joshi, who was only an Educational
Adviser to the Government of India, Ministry of Education and Culture
(Department of Education), was responsible for the impugned enactment.
The impugned enact-ment was passed following the due procedure and merely
because he made a complaint about the situation prevailing in the manage-ment
of Auroville and the Society, it cannot be said that the impu-gned enactment
was passed at his behest.
For the reasons given above all the writ petitions must fail. In view
of the final decision on the writ petitions themselves, it is not necessary
to pass any specific order in the appeal filed against the interim order
in one of the writ petitions. The parties in the circums-tances of the
case are left to bear their own costs.
.....................C. J.
(Y. V. CHANDRACHUD)
…......................J.
(P. N. BHAGWATI)
…......................J.
(V. BALAKRISHNA ERADI)
…......................J.
(R. B. MISRA)
New Delhi,
November 8, 1982.
EXTRACTS FROM THE JUDGEMENT BY
JUSTICE O. CHINNAPPA REDDY
I have the good fortune of having before me the scholarly Judgement of
my brother Misra L. I agree with my brother Misra J. t the Writ Petitions
must fail. With much that he has said, also, I agree. But with a little,
to my own lasting regret, I do not agree. It therefore, proper for me
to explain the points of my disagreement.
…We do not desire to 'enter into any polemics over Sri Aurobindo's
teachings as it is not within the judicial province to do so except to
the limited extent of finding out whether his teachings have the necessary
spiritual content to qualify as religious doctrine and how his followers
understood these teachings...
…Sri Aurobindo, of course, disclaimed that he was founding a religion.
No great religious teacher ever claimed that he was, founding a new religion
or a new school of religious thought. The question is not whether Sri
Aurobindo refused to claim or denied that he was founding a new religion
or a new school of religious thought but whether his disciples and the
community thought so.
…If the followers of Sri Aurobindo constitute a 'religious nomination
as, to my mind, they undoubtedly do, the members of Sri Aurobindo Society
are certainly a distinct and identifiable section of the ‘religious
denomination’…
... But, the question is has the Fundamental Right guaranteed by Art.26
been infringed by the Auroville (Emergency Provisions) Act 1980. We have
to notice straightaway that the Act did not take away the management of
Sri Aurobindo Society. What it did or purposed to do was "to provide
for the taking over, in the public interest, of the management of Auroville
for a limited period and for matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto" . . .
... the question arises whether Auroville is an institution established
and maintained for religious and charitable purposes and whether its management
of Auroville is 'a matter of religion '. Auroville is a township and not
a place of worship. It is a township dedicated not to the practice and
propagation of any religious doc-trine but to promote international understanding
and world peace, surely, a secular and not a religious activity.... The
management of the International, cultural township of Auroville is not,
in our opinion, a matter of religion. . . .
On the several other questions argued before us I accept the conclusion
of Misra J. . The Writ Petitions are accordingly dismissed but in the
circumstances there will be no order regarding costs.
. J.
(0. CHINNAPPA REDDY)
New Delhi,
8th November, 1982.
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