High Court Madras judgement

On March 15, a bench of the Madras High Court consisting of its Hon’ble Chief Justice Mr. Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and the Hon'ble Mr. Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy struck down as ultra vires and illegal the Standing Order of the Governing Board (GB) whereby it had constituted the Auroville Town Development Council (ATDC) and subsequently had nominated its members. The bench judged that the Auroville Foundation Act (Act) entrusts the functions of formulating the Master Plan to the Residents' Assembly (RA) and the final preparation and approval thereof to the GB. It also found that the Act does not authorise the GB to constitute committees that have no GB member as committee member. The bench found that the Standing Order enabling the GB or the Secretary to appoint ATDC members, without the nomination/selection emanating from the RA does not align with the Scheme of the Act, nor with the scheme laid out in the Auroville Master Plan. For the same reason the court also judged the constitution of the Advisory Group by the GB as ultra vires of the Act. The bench stated that with this Standing Order, the GB had arrogated the entire powers of the RA to itself and had virtually nullified its existence and role vis-à-vis the Master Plan. The bench, while setting aside the Standing Order, stated that it will be open for the GB to frame fresh regulations in tune with the provision of the Act and the observations made in the order of the bench.

The Auroville Foundation has appealed the judgement in the Supreme Court of India.