Even though the judgment for the Quo Warranto and Perjury Petitions was reserved on 28th March 2024, it was pronounced 4 months later on 1st August 2024 and has taken another 2 months for its publishing. There may be precedents for pronouncing judgments after months and even a year in Indian judiciary. The Supreme Court of India pronounced on a case 15 months after reserving the judgment, recently.
As News and Analysis already reported on 1st August 2024, (See this article) RA WCom’s Quo Warranto petition (by what authority?) against Anuradha Legrand and 6 others for functioning as Working Committee of the Residents Assembly and the Secretary, Auroville Foundation’s petition praying for action against Hemant Lamba (Member, RA WCom) for perjury were dismissed by Dr. Justice Anita Sumanth.
In the first parts of the judgment Dr. Justice Anita Sumanth rejected the Secretary’s allegation against Hemant Lamba, Member, RA WCom of impersonation amounting to perjury under Section 195 of the Indian Penal Code.
The judge said, “Having heard the rival submissions, I agree with the petitioner [RA WCom] that there is no substance in the plea for perjury and that the same is misconceived” and added that, “Each party is entitled to interpret the statutory provisions and Rules to favour their own position. Such interpretation would not, in my considered view, have the consequence of the party perjuring itself”. The judgment said, “The prayer in this application seeks to put the cart before the horse and for these reasons, the preliminary objection relating to perjury is rejected”.
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RAWCom’s Quo Warranto petition (by what authority?) against Anuradha Legrand and 6 others functioning as Working Committee of the Residents Assembly was dismissed by the judge citing following reasons:
1. There is no clear framework for selection of the Working Committee. “The Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024 has been issued seeking to bring out Regulations on the methodology for selection of the Working Committee of the Residents' Assembly but was immediately challenged in WP.No.1477 of 2024 28 and an interim stay of the Regulations obtained on 23.02.2024".
2. RA WCom claimed 2475 members in the Residents Assembly according to their Register of Members whereas the register submitted by the OSD showed only 1861 members. The judgement said, “Thus, it is the OSD who, as on date, is the proper authority to oversee the functioning of the Foundation, as confirmed by the interim orders granted by this Court. I would thus go by the status as confirmed by the OSD”. In addition, the OSD has, in document dated 20.02.2023 found that the records reveal that R1 to R7 [Anuradha Legrand and 6 others] comprise the Working Committee and this would also serve to clothe R1 to R7 with the required legitimacy to function as the Working Committee.
3. “The qualifications [according to AV Foundation Act] for holding of the post of member of Residents of Working Committee are that the member must be a major and the member of the Residents' Assembly”. “It is not denied that R1 to R7 have attained the age of majority and their names also find place in the Register of Residents after due verification by the OSD.”
4. “The removal of the members of the break-away group [Hemant Lamba, Sauro Mezzetti and Chali Grinnell] is in accordance with the procedure provided for such removal in the PWG Document. Thus, their [R1 to R7] position as members of the Working Committee of the Residents’ Assembly is found to be legitimate, with requisite authority.”
5. Mael Shanti, one of the members of the RA WCom has been asked to leave India by the authorities. If “his status remains under a cloud, his name would not be included in the Register of Residents leaving the petitioner [RA WCom] one short of the sanctioned statutory strength. In such an event the Petitioner can hardly pursue this challenge as its own status as a Working Committee is in peril."
The full judgment (26 pages) is available at the following link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fo8fLtpwRl-3dHrXDANVCCtDL9BxqdzH/view?usp=sharing