Land exchange

Through a 12-page letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Education of India dated 31 July, Shri R Sarvesh Kumar, General Secretary Namo Peravai, Tamil Nadu, drew attention to large losses suffered by Auroville in recent land exchanges.

In the last Auroville Today, we reported that the 69th Governing Board meeting had taken place and we noted some of the major decisions which had been taken.

On 24 July, a group of concerned Tamil Aurovilians called a community meeting to stop the Eternity land deal. They reported that there was a plan to exchange 7.5 acres of Eternity’s beachfront land worth Rs 112.5 crores for what they termed ‘useless’ private land partly outside the Master Plan zone, with a value of only Rs 11.5 crores, a loss to Auroville of over 97 crores.

The relocation of Jasmin and Aravinda's house in AuroOrchard has at last been completed after a series of technical challenges. The move was necessitated by the AVFO’s land exchange in November 2023 that placed their residence as well as several major and vital infrastructures of AuroOrchard on the property now claimed by a new landowner.

Four years into this crisis, I find myself searching for clarity on how we move forward. Yesterday, I came across a series of writings by Shannon Willis on Soft Rebellion that articulated what many of us have been intuitively practicing all along.

On 20 March, the Ministry of Education, responding to two Right to Information requests dated 25 and 26 February, sent the applicant a copy of the Minutes of the 68th Meeting of the Governing Board (GB) of the Auroville Foundation held on 5 December 2024, which have since been widely distributed in Auroville.

In the previous issue of Auroville Today we published the major considerations and decisions of the Governing Board as reported in the minutes of its 67th Governing Board meeting held in Auroville on 31 May 2024.

In March 2024, an Aurovilian filed two writ petitions at the Madras High Court. The first petition prayed the court to restrain the Auroville Foundation from land exchanges without following the procedures laid down in the Auroville Foundation Rules 1997 and the General Financial Rules 2017.

The RA-WCom has shared with the community an update about recent activities and hearings in the Supreme Court in New Delhi and in the Madras High Court.

“In this as in all great human aspirations and endeavours, an a priori declaration of impossibility is a sign of ignorance and weakness. For by the doing the difficulty will be solved.”

On November 11th, an article in the Times of India mentioned that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (All India Anna Dravidian Progressive Federation - AIADMK), currently the main opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, which has great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry, demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's primary domestic crime-investigating agency, into the alleged irregularities in land exchanges at Auroville.

In light of an interview published in Auroville Today’s October issue that presented a perspective on Auroville’s current governance situation, we feel it necessary to offer a different view that more accurately reflects the experiences and concerns of many in our community.

The Auroville Foundation Act 1988 contains a special section on the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly. It states that:

The newspaper The Hindu reported on August 7th that the Minister of State for Education, Shri Sukanta Majumdar, replying in Parliament to a set of questions about Auroville, had said that the Central Government has referred a range of complaints, including dubious land exchanges, encroachment, cybercrime and money laundering in Auroville, to the appropriate bodies / agencies.

The Working Committee selected by the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) called for an emergency decision of the Residents’ Assembly (RAD) regarding the sales and exchanges of Auroville owned lands.

Residents of Felicity and Happiness, two outlying communities having a population of about 20 to 30 residents, have informed the RA-WCom that they are facing challenges since they learned in March of this year that a prime parcel of land of approximately an acre and a half which faces the old Auroville Road had been exchanged for land in the Master Plan area.

The RA-WCom informed the community that a critical situation has been unfolding at Auro Orchard. On 18th July, employees of the buyer closed fences, cutting off access to the home of two residents and members of the farm.

On July 6th, a community gathering and potluck dinner took place at the Certitude sportsground. The event was organized by the RA-WCom and the Auroville Council.

On June 9th, the Auroville International Advisory Council (IAC) shared with the community that during a joint meeting with the GB on May 31st, it had called for a more transparent and inclusive land exchange process.

The Working Committee constituted by the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) has shared with the community extensive information regarding land exchanges and transactions that have taken place in the last two years.

There have been many requests for clarity on the background and status of the numerous court cases that are pending in various courts in India, including in the Supreme Court of India, regarding the present situation in Auroville.

In a letter to the Secretary requesting her help, a member of the AuroOrchard team protested that a new land marking will give away, in a land exchange, half of the community’s vegetable fields, which provide Auroville with at least ten tones of vegetables a year.

The cases challenging the Admission and Termination of Residents in the Register of Residents Regulations 2023 and the Selection of the Working Committee Regulations 2024 have been posted for another hearing on April 22nd.

Issued by two members of the International Advisory Council and supported by eight International personalities

In its 64th meeting the Board asked the Secretary, Auroville Foundation to take necessary steps to streamline the housing allotment and regulate the housing according to The Mother's perception.

The Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly (RA-WCom) has sent its concerns and a rebuttal of the recent land exchange involving Auro Orchard land to the Governing Board and the International Advisory Council.

Land exchange is very much in the news at present, with Auroville land being exchanged for privately-owned land in AuroOrchard and mooted as a possibility in places like Forecomers and Pebble Garden.

Before Auroville was officially founded in 1968 and before the final location of Auroville was decided by the Mother, disparate plots of land had been bought in the surrounding region.

When the members of the Land Board took office in January 2014 they met with a dire scenario. Funds to purchase lands were in short supply, the sale of outlying lands was blocked, land encroachment was rampant, land grabs and falsifications of land documents by outsiders were discovered, and legal assistance was insufficiently available.

At 135 acres, Annapurna is Auroville’s largest farm and is furthest away from the city centre. Due to lack of (wo)manpower and capital for investment, only a quarter of Annapurna is under intense cultivation, while fodder and timber is grown in the rest of the land.

The term of office of Shri N. Bala Baskar, IAS (retd.) the Secretary to the Auroville Foundation, will end on August 16th. He had been Secretary from 1996 till 2001, and rejoined the Auroville Foundation on March 8th, 2012.