In September, 2022, shortly after the ruling of the Madras High Court that the Office Orders of the Auroville Foundation (AF), which constituted parallel working groups in opposition to the Residents' Assembly (RA), were in violation of the Auroville Foundation Act of 1988, I wrote an article focused on the AF Secretary's use of the term “inflection point.” I quote:
She said, for example, at the Pondy Lit Fest held recently (Aug 7, 2022), in a presentation having nothing to do with literature but suited to the political tenor of the event: “We are at a point of inflection today (in Auroville) – now is the time to actually implement the dream of the Mother who gave the design for us 'to do,' just as she designed it. It is not a puzzle that we need to think about.” She was referring to the 'Master Plan' which was drawn up by Auroville residents in 2001, far different from any 'designs' that were drawn or discussed by the Mother in her lifetime. In fact it was a planning exercise meant to define and protect the land uses proposed for the area of Auroville, and not something the Mother said 'to do'. On another recent occasion, (July 30, 2022), the Secretary said, “Now is the time, a point of inflection for all of us, to come together at the Lotus Feet of the Mother.”
In that article, I also made the comment that: “For many of the residents of Auroville who have dedicated their lives for years, and perhaps for multiple generations, to putting the structures and processes in place, the forests and gardens and schools and homes and farms which now thrive, and which embody what we have believed to be the beginnings of that 'laboratory of evolution' to which we were called by the Mother, this so called 'inflection point' feels as if it might signal the end of Auroville, at least as we know it.”
At this point, 18 months later, with the 2022 MHC ruling continuously stayed on appeal, and after the disruption, dismantling, and destruction of Auroville, under the authority of the Auroville Foundation Governing Board, continuously unabated and intensified, yet another favorable ruling has been issued by the MHC. Concerning the notification by the Foundation of two new regulations that deny the rights and responsibilities of the Residents' Assembly under the Act (see the previous article titled 'The Destruction of Auroville (4),'), the Chief Justice's new order states:
“It would appear that the Residents' Assembly is totally ignored under the Regulations for admission or termination of persons in the register of residents” (p. 11 of 14). “...The power to frame regulation with regard to the admission or termination of persons in the register of residents would mean to include, laying down certain criteria for admission or termination of persons; however, would not be interpreted to mean that the power of the Residents' Assembly to admit or terminate persons in the register of residents as enshrined under Section 19 of the Act would be taken away. The said Regulation prima facie would be in the teeth of Section 19 of the Act” (p. 12 of 14). “ ...The subordinate legislation may supplement the statute; however, cannot supplant it. Prima facie, the impugned regulation erodes upon the power of the Residents' Assembly to allow admissions or cause the termination of persons in the register” (p. 12 of 14). “ ...Until further orders, admission or termination of person in the register of residents of the Auroville Foundation shall not be finalised; nor a person shall be admitted or terminated from the register of residents resorting to the impugned regulation” (13 of 14).
It is too early to say whether this order will also be delayed indefinitely on appeal, but it provides at least a momentary glimmer of hope, in the light of which a number of previously undisclosed facts may be reviewed, which may add depth and conviction to the court's ruling. In a 470 page sheaf of documents obtained through the Right To Information Act 2005 (RTI),1 we find an early version of the new regulations on the admission and termination of residents and the selection of the working committee which was submitted by the AF to the Ministry of Education (MoE) in the summer of 2023. In its response to the AF some comments by the MoE jump out as of particular interest, which may also be especially relevant to the rulings of the MHC. The document titled 'Comments of Ministry on Regulations for General administration and structure of Auroville Foundation and implementations of functions as listed in the Act,' we read:
“...regulations are listed on a table along with comments of the Ministry. Among the regulations proposed are the following:
Regulations proposed by Auroville Foundation
I. Structure of the Auroville Foundation
II. Framework for the method of selection of Working Committee As per Section 20(3) of the Act, the Residents’ Assembly shall choose the manner of constituting a Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly and define its term of office. (i)In accordance with the Governing Board’s powers under Section 11(3) and Section 17(b) of the Act, the framework and guidelines for the selection of a Working Committee is described hereunder.
In line with the principles and guidance of Auroville’s organization given by its founder, the Mother, enumerated in Appendix 1, the Residents’ Assembly shall conduct its affairs and carry out its functions, without politics, i.e. no campaigning, no promotions of opinions, and no voting or elections shall be carried out.”
Comments of the Ministry that are worthy of careful scrutiny and reflection:
“If the intent is to set boundaries/contours/define envelope within which RA may exercise powers related to constitution of Working Committee, the intention is better served by framing Rules using residuary powers under Section 31 (2) (h).”
The Ministry then follows up this observation with a definitive intervention:
“This Ministry has prepared a draft Auroville Foundation (Admission and Termination of Persons in the Register of Residents) Regulations, 2023 [Annexure I] in supersession of earlier Auroville Foundation Regulations, 2020 which may be circulated to the Governing Board for due consideration.
The draft Regulations while drawing from the proposed regulations shared by AF have been suitably revised/reformulated to ensure adherence to the provisions of the Act, incorporate adequate checks and balances at all levels, guardrails in exercise of powers, sufficient opportunities for appeal and hearing especially in case of termination, transparency and objectivity in preparation of Register of Residents and graduated path for becoming residents of Auroville.
In these Regulations, the power to constitute Admission & Termination Committee has been entrusted to the Governing Board under Section 16(1) of the Act. The Committee shall be an advisory body that will have representation from Residents’ Assembly and shall furnish its advice to the Secretary, for his/her final approval in the matter of admission and termination of a person in the Register of Residents. The power of appeal will vest in an Appellate Authority consisting of Chairperson of the Governing Board and two members nominated from the Governing Board and International Advisory Council respectively. Timelines and declarations for each process have been properly etched out.”
From this point on, the regulations that were notified by the AF in the Gazette of India in December 2023 and January 2024 were drafted and revised repeatedly by the MoE and submitted by the Ministry to the AF for its comments - in August, October, November, and December, until it advised the AF to notify the regulations in their final form. Early in the process, the Ministry had informed the AF that it would be hiring legal professionals to conduct this overhaul of the regulations of 2020. We should perhaps reflect on the many statements made by the Governing Board and the Foundation Office during the past two years in which they have referred to themselves as being “under the Ministry of Education,” and their actions being authorized by the Government of India. And yet, in communications by the Working Committee and in my articles there has been a tendency to consider these references as a ruse, on the one hand, or invalid due to the intention of the Act, on the other hand. Now there is clear evidence that in fact the Ministry of Education is in control and it is none other than the Government of India itself.
The clear intention of the new regulations, as noted by the court, is to remove all authority from the RA and to vest it in the GB. The terms used by the Ministry are “to set boundaries/contours/define envelope within which RA may exercise powers.” Furthermore, in its finalization of the new regulations on admission and termination it has defined what it calls “points of difference” with the AF proposal and its initial drafts:
“Bifurcation of advisory and administrative roles vested in Admission and Terminations Committee into 2 separate bodies viz. i) Admissions and Terminations Registry (ATR) which will purely function as an administrative unit to provide Secretarial assistance for all activities related to Admission and Termination and ii) Admissions and Terminations Scrutinizing Committee (ATSC) which will scrutinize all applications/complaints related to admission or termination and render advice to the Secretary, AF after applying its mind.”
In the new procedure for obtaining feedback from residents on the admission and termination of individuals in the register of residents, as well as in the selection of working committee members, formerly the statutory responsibility of the RA, not only is the sole authority now vested in the Secretary and the GB, but any feedback by residents is only permitted on an individual basis, and no group opinions or representations are allowed, thus thoroughly eliminating any possibility of collective decision making or democratic process.
In addition to these notable statutory interventions, what has been amplified in the process of promulgating these new regulations, is the extent to which the GB, and by implication the GOI, are willing to go in their perfidious corruption of the words and intentions of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. In the “Preamble” to its original proposal for the new regulations, for example, there are theses articles:
“Whereas the Mother founded Auroville based on the life and work of Sri Aurobindo and specifically the fifth dream of “The Five Dreams of India's Resurgence” …
Whereas the collective of residents in Auroville was meant by its founders to be a society of spiritual seekers, or a Sangh, or a Gnostic Society, as defined by Sri Aurobindo …
Whereas the Governing Board, in the course of its statutorily mandated responsibility for the internal management of the affairs of Auroville, the well-being, continued, undeterred and successful development of Auroville in the light of the teachings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo...”
And shortly after the Preamble, in the body of the regulation on selection of the Working Committee, the AF draft goes on to say,
“In order to ensure that there is, in the selection of a Working Committee, transparency, inclusiveness, non-discrimination, and eligibility of members in accordance with the criteria defined by the Residents' Assembly, the Working Committee has set up an organization called the Residents' Assembly Service (RAS) …
The selection process for the Working Committee, thus defined by the Residents' Assembly and reviewed by the Residents' Assembly Service, shall:
Be in strict accordance with the ideals of Auroville and that of a spiritual society, to the basic principles, ideals and objectives of Auroville;
Ensure that there is no voting or elections in Auroville, in line with the aim of “no politics” with reference to the Mother's words in Appendix 1.”
In the final draft of the MoE, the RA and the RAS have been replaced by the ATSC and the ATR.
The “Appendix 1” mentioned here, we know to be the 16 quotations from the writings of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo that somehow got appended onto the actual regulation that was notified in January 2024. Among those quotations, we read, for example:
I.5 Auroville is an attempt towards world peace, friendship, fraternity, unity. The Mother on Auroville, 20.9.1969
II.12 Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities.
The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity. The Mother, September 8, 1965
There is nothing in these quotations of the Mother to indicate that she meant Auroville to be a “sangha” or a “gnostic society,” nor do we know of any case in which she has referred to Auroville in relation to Sri Aurobindo's “Five Dreams.” There are, however, remarks made by both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother that are quoted in this section of the regulation concerning politics, but they do not support the argument that there should be no voting in Auroville, as the regulation document claims. And if the quotations concerning “democracy” are read in the context in which they were written, they also do not support the idea that there should be no voting or elections in Auroville, or “no promotion of opinions.”
In fact, the selections from both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother concerning “democracy” and “politics” that are used in the regulation document to support its agenda of control have been taken out of contexts in which they were actually expressing a critique of the way in which democracy has generally been practiced in modern societies, and not a criticism of democracy itself. In fact, Sri Aurobindo explains at great length in The Human Cycle how democracy is the form of government best suited to support the freedom that is necessary for humanity to grow both socially and spiritually, toward the ideal of unity in diversity. What concerns him is that democracy tends toward oligarchy and autocracy, because human nature isn't capable of living up to the ideals of democracy. And that is exactly the problem we see in India today.
In the remarks made by the Mother in the early days of Auroville, which are quoted in the document that is now before the court, she was insisting that there should be no politics in the offices of Auroville, because of a particular case in which a volunteer who worked for Auroville was also involved in national politics, and she didn't want that mixed up with the activities of Auroville. This was at a time, in fact, when the administrative activities of Auroville were taking place in Pondicherry and there were hardly any people actually living on the site. Now that the Auroville community exists, and it has made a meaningful effort for many years to use democratic processes to serve both the individual and the community in the ways that they should, the GOI is imposing regulations that deny the rights of the residents to carry out even the responsibilities that they have been given under the law!
There is much more that can be said about this paradoxical situation, in general as well as in the specific context of the new regulations. At this point, however, there are two aspects of the current situation that are put in relief by the new regulations and by the documentation that has become available: one is the extent to which this government is willing to bend the words of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for its own purposes, and the other is the extent to which it is willing to violate the law and undermine the truth of Auroville. To answer the question “What price democracy?” I would like to simply recall words said by the Mother directly to us, from which we may find the courage to make the necessary sacrifices:
“We want the Truth. For most men, it is what they want that they label truth. The Aurovilians must want the Truth whatever it may be.” That is the price of the ideal of democracy.
1. fl-2-13/2021-UU (RTI). Correspondence.pdf. Communications between the Auroville Foundation GB and the MoE
Sad thing is that a small group of Aurovillians, frustrated by the lack of progress, turned against their brothers and sisters by telling stories to the secretary and GB which they were willing to repeat for their agenda's.
Telling that the AV masterplan has all the qualities of a DDP is not something the Secretary invented. Everyone with some education knows it's humbug. The guy who told here, also knows. The mess resulting from it becomes terribly clear on everything the CPWD is fixing with foaming, glueing and sanding the Crownroad.