Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024.

On January 12th, 2024, the GB published the Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024, in part III of the Gazette of India. The Regulations were made without consulting the Residents’ Assembly.

The Regulations specify that the GB shall constitute a Selection Process Committee (SPC) and appoint its five members after a call for nominations from the Residents Assembly and from the nominations thus received. To become a SPC member one must have expertise in the field of administration.

The SPC has two functions: (1) to review the existing selection process and (2) to conduct the selection of the Working Committee members.

In the process of reviewing the existing selection process, the SPC has to ensure that the Mother’s guidelines for organisers in Auroville are respected; these have been specified in an appendix to the Regulations. The SPC will publish its reviewed selection process proposal and ask for feedback from the residents who have fourteen days time to submit it. The SPC shall consider the comments received from the residents and upload the same on the Auroville Foundation website, along with its responses. The SPC shall then finalise the selection process method and submit it to the Residents Assembly and the GB. After approval of the GB the document shall be uploaded on the website of Auroville Foundation and come into effect.

The second function of the SPC is to conduct the selection process of Working Committee members. The Regulations specify the qualifications to become a member of the Working Committee which are: to have been a resident for a minimum period of five consecutive years; to comply with the laws of the land, the Auroville Foundation Act, the Rules of the Auroville Foundation, and the various Regulations and standing orders issued by the Governing Board; and to be available full-time as a member. Though the regulations specify that a member can only serve in the Working Committee for one term and may re-apply after a lapse of next one term, the term of office itself has not been specified in the Regulations.

On January 17th, the AVFO called for self-nominations for SPC membership.