A day after police booked six Aurovilleans, including five foreign nationals, on a break-in complaint by Auroville authorities, the Working Committee (WC) on Saturday issued a statement condemning the filing of the First Information Report (FIR). “Unfortunate and avoidable action” and denied all allegations.
On Wednesday, following a complaint filed by the Under Secretary of Auroville about the “illegal acquisition of records and communication systems” of the WC office, Auroville Police arrested Hemant Lamba, Sauro Mazetti (Italian), Lisa Neogi aka Renu Cases were registered against (Swedish). , Michelle Gronoff aka Wazo (French), Suryan Stetner (British) and Chali Grinnell (American). They were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, including rioting, forgery and computer-related offences.
In the press statement, the WC of the Residents Assembly (RA) of the Auroville Foundation said that the filing of police cases against residents, including three duly ratified members of the WC, for an internal dispute was against the spirit of Auroville. The committee also categorically denied the listed allegations against the residents, terming it as a very unfortunate and avoidable action.
The new crisis recently arose after the seven-member WC split into two factions. After a group supported by the Auroville Foundation removed three members for working against the Foundation, the decision was contested on the grounds that it was unregulated as only the RA was authorized to remove/select members in the WC .
Despite a directive by the Auroville Foundation to withhold RA’s decision until a register of residents was updated to reflect the current demographics of Auroville Township, on May 10, a Residents Assembly convened and three evicted residents. Voted to retain. During the removal and replacement of four members supported by Chali Grinnell, Soro Majetti and Hemant Lamba Foundation.
The WC statement said that the seven-member WC was elected by the Residents’ Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988. The decision was challenged by the Office of the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, but the term of office and the governance of the working group are to be decided by residents only as it is also mentioned in a note from the Ministry of Human Resources. February 2020, it said.