Evergreen land dispute

The appeal lodged by Mr PK Subramaniam (PKS) against the previous judgment on Evergreen land, which had found the contested Evergreen land to be rightfully Auroville land, was heard on the 25th October 2024 at the Tindivanam court, and a new judgement was issued. The Additional District Judge ruled in favour of PKS, meaning that Auroville now faces the potential loss of around one acre of forested land, as well as losing the access to Evergreen community. The area is prime land that lies by the Auroville main road from Kuilaypalayam.

The verdict was a surprise because the land had been uncontested since 1992, (when it was purchased) and has been in the peaceful possession of Auroville for over 30 years with Auroville paying the land tax for it during this entire duration.

According to a mass bulletin issued by the RA WCom, certain moves by the AVFO ‘Land Service’ may have contributed to the verdict. The contested property had been included in a list of land that Auroville needed to acquire, which was shown in court to strengthen PKS’s ownership claim. Additionally, despite several requests, the AVFO and their ‘Land Service’ made no effort to take ownership of the land after the previous favourable verdict. In contrast, PKS moved quickly after this judgement and a JCB and a team of workers came to clear the area of trees from 2nd November onwards. RA WCom members and residents attempted to stop the work, requesting that a government survey be carried out beforehand. No members of the AVFO or their ‘working groups’ came to the site. The RA-WCom, in a letter to the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council, stated that, due to the fact that no new Secretary had yet been appointed, no appeal had yet been filed. The RA-WCom urged the GB to immediately lodge an appeal, as well as to convey to the relevant ministries the urgency of appointing a new resident Secretary who would take strong and quick action to protect Auroville’s lands. “Neglecting this is causing great damage and loss to Auroville’s assets and the risk of encouraging violent land speculators to take advantage of the lack of authoritative action, and possibly resulting in law and order situations,” wrote the RA-WCom.