Friday 3 October 2014

Visit of Chief Justice of Madras High Court

Chief Justice of Madras High Court comes to the Ashram at about 5.15 pm. People have seen him being entertained by Matriprasad and Devdip. As per protocol the Chief Justice should stay at Raj Nivas but he did not put up there. Where did he spend his holiday at Pondicherry?

In fact, in 2009, we had written a letter to Chief Justice of Madras High Court stating that Judges from the Supreme Court and various High Courts across the country were constantly being entertained by the trustees and their henchmen. Justice K. Venkataraman took offence at our letter and became vindictive towards us because of this letter. We are producing the letter hereunder.



From:                                                                                                               27.06.2009
(1) Jayashree Prasad,               (2) Arunnashri Prasad,           
(3) Rajyashri Prasad                (4) Nivedita Prasad,                (5)Hemlata Prasad
            C/o Shri G. Prasad, Matri Nilayam,
            No.4, Captain Marius Xavier Street, Pondicherry-605001

To
His Lordship Mr. Justice H.L. Gokhale,
Madras High Court,
Chennai-600104

Hon’ble Lordship,

Our greetings to you.

We are five sisters who are all spinsters. In pursuit of our spiritual inclinations, leaving behind our worldly assets, ambitions and ties, we have voluntarily offered our lives at the feet of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, our Gurus, and have been following and practicing their teachings and ideals as members of Sri Aurobindo Ashram for more than two decades.

In this Ashram members do not receive any money for the work which they render. Instead, Ashram takes full charge of their well-being, basic needs and necessities and other requirements as and when they arise. The Ashram is managed by five trustees, who are not elected by the members of the Ashram and enjoy lifetime tenure, resulting in tyranny and victimization of inmates due to the absolute inherent power exercised over them.

From 2001 we have been facing much harassment at the hands of trustees’ and we are being systematically victimized. Thereafter in 2004 trustees’ henchmen subjected us to sexual harassment and we complained to the trustees about the same, orally as well as in writing. But in order to protect their henchmen, with the help of the Pondicherry police, Pondicherry State Women Commission and high ranking ex-government officials, the trustees created a false and malafide report against us, based on which they attempted to illegally expel us. We were constrained to file a civil suit in O.S. No.409/2005, at Pondicherry, challenging the impugned report and the trustees’ illegal attempt of expulsion. The Hon’ble Trial Court, after thorough enquiry, passed an interim order in our favor restraining the trustees from taking any action based on the said report, since the balance of convenience was in our favor and the trustees’ illegal action affected our basic civil rights of food, clothing, shelter and medical care.

Aggrieved by the interim order passed by the Hon’ble Trial Court, the trustees preferred a CMA. The Hon’ble Appellate Authority after another thorough enquiry upheld the trial court’s order granting us simple injunction.

Thereafter the trustees preferred a revision in CRP No.3314/2007 before the Hon’ble High Court at Madras, His Lordship Mr. Justice K. Venkataraman, the presiding Justice was biased, partial and unjudicious while taking up and entertaining the CRP in the following manner:
  1. The CRP was entertained through a back door entry misusing the power under Article 227.
  2. No question of law was raised in the CRP by the trustees much less a substantial law.
  3. The interim order passed by the Trial Court and upheld by the Appellate Authority was only a simple injunction granting us food, clothing, shelter, medical and basic needs and necessities as provided by the Ashram prior to the attempted expulsion.
  4. We cited Vishakha Vs. State of Rajasthan reported in AIR 1997 SC 3011, a salutary ruling in the sexual harassment matters in our Counter itself, based on which the suit itself ought to have been decreed. But His Lordship failed to even mention this citation in his Order dated 29.01.2008.
  5. The trustees in the guise of clarification have been filing heaps of petition and papers, not relevant and related to the cause of action of CRP, for getting modification as per their requirement and His Lordship is entertaining such petitions, like a Trial Court.
  6. His Lordship appointed an Advocate-Commissioner at the trustees’ insistence, who in his report clearly stated that we are being harassed by the trustees. As yet it appears that His Lordship does not seem to be concerned about the harassment meted out to us.
  7. On the contrary His Lordship like a Trial Court has entertained objections and irrelevant documents to facilitate the trustees’ cause.
  8. It is also a matter o record that one Kamal Dora, another member of the Ashram, had filed a suit against arbitrary action of the trustees. His Lordship Mr. Justice K. Venkataraman brought his suit to an end, without even a trial, through C.R.P. No.1239/2007 disposed on 29.11.2007. His Lordship’s unjudicious behavior has brought Kamal to the streets. Kamal is now reduced to a beggarly status and is surviving on the charity of the church.

It is also noteworthy and we bear witness to the fact that several Judges and Justices are regularly hobnobbing and socializing with the trustees and their henchmen at the Ashram Trust’s office. The trustees have been entertaining the Hon’ble Judges in several ways because they have a long list of pending cases against them.

Therefore we humbly and respectfully request Your Lordship to transfer all our proceedings pending before His Lordship Mr. justice K. Venkataraman with appropriate directions. With this humble request we five sisters place our lives in Your Lordship’s hands and pray that Your Lordship may do the needful at Your Lordship’s earliest convenience.

Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Sd/- (Five Sisters)
Encl:
1) CRP No.3314/2007 filed by Trustees
2) Counter filed by us in CRP No.3314/2007
3) Additional Counter filed by us in CRP No.3314/2007
4) Order dated 29.01.2008 by His Lordship Mr. Justice K. Venkataraman
5) Second Order dated 04.08.2008 by His Lordship Mr. Justice K. Venkataraman
6) List of Cases against Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trustees

Copies to:
1) His Lordship Mr. Justice K.G. Balakrishnan
Hon’ble Chief Justice of India,
Supreme Court of India, New Delhi – 110001

2) Dr. M. Veerappa Moily,
Hon’ble Minister for Law & Justice
Ministry of Law and Justice,
4th Floor, A-Wing, Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi-110001

3) Mr. P. Chidambaram,
Hon’ble Home Minister,
Government of India, New Delhi-110001

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