The Auroville Foundation has decided to constitute a Selection Process Committee to ensure “free and fair selection” of members to the Working Committee in the international township, in Villupuram district.
The Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024, notified recently, are expected to restrict the functions of one of the two ‘Working Committees’ presently in Auroville, which does not enjoy the support of the Governing Board.
Functionally, the Working Committee of Auroville is the interface between the Residents’ Assembly, the Governing Board, the International Advisory Council and the Government of India.
The fresh regulations, however, run contrary to the provisions of the Auroville Foundation Act, 1988. According to Section 20 of the Act, the Working Committee is “to be chosen by the Residents’ Assembly from among themselves” and that the “manner of choosing the members of the Working Committee and their term of office shall be such as may be decided by the Residents’ Assembly.”
Though the notification said the Governing Board was exercising the powers conferred by Section 32 of the Act, the section actually says: “32. Power to make regulations.—(1) The Governing Board may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act and the rules made thereunder, for enabling it to discharge its functions under this Act.” Moreover, every rule and regulation made under the Act, is to be laid before the Parliament, as per Section 33.
Presently, though the Act provides for only one Working Committee, functionally there are two panels in Auroville, that call themselves the ‘Working Committees’. While one of them is said to enjoy the support of the Residents’ Assembly and not the Governing Board, the other is believed to enjoy the support of the Governing Board and not the Residents’ Assembly.
“The extant Working Committee shall be dissolved after the selection process for Working Committee is completed,” states one of the regulations. It further lists out “membership criteria” to serve in the Working Committee, as per which the candidate who wishes to serve in the Working Committee shall comply with the laws of the land, the Act, rules, regulations, standing orders, statutes and orders as may be issued by the competent authority from time to time.
The candidate shall be a resident and have been entered in the Register of Residents for a minimum of five consecutive years and shall be available full-time as a member. The candidate for the Working Committee shall serve in the Working Committee “for one term and he may re-apply after a lapse of next one term”, the regulations said.
As for the Selection Process Committee, the Governing Board, after a call for nominations from the Residents’ Assembly and from the nominations thus received, shall appoint a panel of five persons from amongst the residents, with expertise in the field of administration. “The Auroville Foundation Secretariat shall provide secretarial assistance to the Selection Process Committee,” the regulations stated.
