Apr 1, 20236 min read

Second Appeal: International Donation Fraud & RTI | Auroville

Updated: Jun 2, 2023

Post the RTI AFOUN/R/E/23/00005, we sent an email communication to the Auroville Foundation & the Ministry.

Date: Feb 27, 2023

To:

The Secretary,

Auroville Foundation,

Auroville Foundation Bhavan,

Auroville - 605 101

CC:

The Chairman (Governor of Tamilnadu),

Auroville Foundation

Auroville - 605 101

The Secretary & Economic Advisor,

Ministry of Education,

The Secretary,

Central Information Commission.

SUBJECT: Request to give timely information: RTI AFOUN/R/E/23/00005

Respected Madam,

I have been requesting many RTIs from the Auroville Foundation for over 3 years, and I have documented information that the office has lied, falsified and purposely given evasive answers, or none at all. Although, every word written in 47 RTIs so far, to various Government offices is for a reason that can be explained in detail, if necessary.

I would also like to bring to your notice, that the Central Information Commission opined in their decision no- CIC/AFOUN/A/2018/636746/03110 that the Auroville Foundation is not exempted from replying to the RTI giving a warning to the CPIO. Yet, post this, Auroville Foundation has gone from bad to worse with no replies or incorrigible delays.

The aforesaid RTI AFOUN/R/E/23/00005, is purely in the larger interest of the public and for the project, and I shall gladly assist the CPIO with clarity of the information sought.

Prayer:

a) I humbly request your office to reply to the RTI within, not 30 days, but 7 days. For Question 5, if tax returns are refused by Auroville International, they can be stated as refused and/or out of the purview of Indian jurisdiction.

b) The Auroville Foundation implements a robust RTI system in Auroville, only then will it purely bring forth transparency to the ‘City of Truth’

c) I humbly request that any personal allegations/ intentions against me / legal exemptions to refuse RTIs be given in writing.

Thanking you,

Warm Regards,

VikramRam

Exhibits:

RTI AFOUN/R/E/23/00005

CIC/AFOUN/A/2018/636746/03110

“The Monks who sold everyone else’s Ferraris for their Ferraris”

This is how the Auroville “Power Corridor” comprising of trustees, unit holders and those who keep circling in Working groups have fooled the world, Aurovilians and volunteers. Aurovilians are to work for and only for Auroville and other business is not allowed, especially diverting or soliciting donations to invest in their personal escapades. While these few who are also mentors preach the world about Auroville asking people to donate their wealth, they have been practising quite the opposite.

We have gathered numerous financial frauds in Auroville spearheaded by these few, some are also in our archives. They are also the ones who instigate, censor and threaten the residents of Auroville so that their dastardly deeds do not come out in the public domain, having their hands in criminal gang-related activities holding the residents and the public at ransom.

The Auroville Foundation has a long-standing history of not replying to RTIs with some strange vision of a Human experiment, as such emboldening these criminals in Auroville. The decay of Auroville for decades is due to the Governing Boards not exercising their powers under the Auroville Foundation Act. This has led to a lacuna of power which is misused by them in the name of spirituality, hiding behind misused quotes of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and the so-called power of the misinformed, politically motivated Resident Assembly.

Let us look at the explanations of the questions sought through RTI AFOUN/R/E/23/00005, dated 26th Feb 2023 :

Q 1: A copy of Expense Receipt no 154 of Unity Fund dated 21st June 2017 is required.

A good Samaritan who wishes to be anonymous gave us the following:

The above shows how donations were routed to Aurovilian's personal assets. The trust "Kaluveli Environment Education Trust" was not a part of Auroville last time we asked in a RTI. Although, after discovery of such offences, it seems that they have been forgiven as a spiritual human experiment. Much such evidence is there and this is just an example.

Q 2) Auroville trusts and units have been collecting donations from everywhere stating that the Comptroller & Auditor General of India ( CAG ) does audits annually. Although the CAG does not do a direct audit and has been sighting for 5 consecutive years in Auroville's annual reports, the internal audit is inadequate. Many constructional works of Auroville have exposed financial scams, and yet no works audit has been conducted. Why has a private audit company been appointed to conduct only transactional audits and not the CAG directly? A detailed explanation is required.

The above is self explanatory - an explanation is required, and if CAG cannot do an audit directly due to technical reasons, we are certain there are good justifications on the methods implemented by the Government of India for a clean and thorough audit.

Q 3) There are rumours that the New Town Development Authority ( NTDA ) which was important for the implementation of the Masterplan was withdrawn. Due to this for years, the Auroville Foundation has been against private developers in the area. Is it true and if so, a detailed explanation as to the reasons behind this decision is required

NTDA (New Town Development Authority) was to stop the development of private owners in the area and the Auroville groups have been forcing locals to sell their lands to Auroville, not to mention their hands with land encroachers. After data of all their private properties including that of the Under Secretary / Accused officer has come out in the public domain, removal of NTDA also gives these Aurovilians and public officers a free pass. This means that if NTDA is withdrawn, all illegal lands of Aurovilians can be easily legitimised. We are sure that the Government would have just cause to explain the same to the public.

Q 4) What are the financial terms and relationships between Auroville International and Auroville Foundation?

What are the financial terms to allow international entities to collect donations for a Government of India project?

Q 5) Auroville International collects donations from various centres across the world for Auroville, a project in India, showing promises of uplifting the rural population and our poor country. The tax returns of Auroville International centres in their countries are required, to find out how much donations they have collected over the past 5 years.

The above is self-explanatory, as Auroville Foundation is duty-bound to audit anything which is related to Auroville, especially the international donations collected by powerful Aurovilians. It is seen that many of these international centres have not filed their taxes in their respective countries as well. Much evidence gathered by us shows that these international centres are used for routing donations to personal projects and escapades. For thorough transparency, the activities of these international accounts have to be told to the world.

Q 6) After the Governor of Tamilnadu was appointed as the Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, how many Governing Board meetings have been held? The Minutes of the meeting of all is required.

After the enquiry committee report in 2019, which is still in a cold shelf with the Ministry of Education, many administrative changes have occurred. This is to know the wonderful changes the Government has implemented, for the betterment of Auroville. Everything that was stated in the Enquiry Committee report was to expose these mafia elements, and seeing the actions of the past year and more, it leaves no doubt or ambiguity to call central agencies.

The state of Auroville is due to these few who instigate others to hold protests and spread falsehood. They protect the small youth by letting them have illegal parties and drugs in the name of spiritual consciousness, autonomy and freedom so that their economic and land offences are also given a goodbye. This is how they gather masses on the ground and online to spread stories which are far away from reality.

These few powerful, when their economic and land offences surface, go out of their way to cover up by writing to embassies and against any public officer doing good. Also, they have people in Delhi to lobby and their tentacles extend beyond the Director of the NIA. Attempts to cover up the Enquiry Committee report are also well documented.

The Secretary of the Auroville Foundation has done a wonderful job in changing the working groups, although without an unbiased central investigative team and a change in the system, the Auroville dream remains a Dream. It remains a haven of Monks who preach to newcomers and volunteers and loot behind closed doors.

In the recent meeting with unit holders and trustees, audit findings are being hidden under the closet stating that there are various discrepancies, but we do not wish to name them, in future we will follow the law...while past crimes which have unduly enriched them are yet unanswered.

Let us sincerely hope the current Governing Board of Auroville takes the suggestion of the previous Governing Board, extracts of which are as under: