News & Notes 886:The Auroville Appeal Process as ratified
The Auroville Appeal Process as ratified (from Entity::Auroville Council)
Dear Community, more than 1 year ago (July 2020), an appeal was filed against a decision made by the Entity::ATDC.
The Auroville Appeal process as ratified by the Residents Assembly states that all decisions made by the 4 main workings groups (Wcom, FAMC, ATDC and AVC) are appealable.
This is to encourage WGs to follow due diligence when making decisions and to create a culture of accountability within Auroville.
Previously ATDC had cooperated with the appeal process. But with the appeal by Re-Center the ATDC have suggested a new precedent whereby not all ATDC decisions are appealable.
After much effort over the last months from Council; attempting to reassure the ATDC of the sense in, and need of, the appeal process for Auroville as a whole; we have finally received clear reasons/justifications for their refusal in writing quoted below.
- We have been tasked with creating DDP for all zones of Auroville on war footing by the Secretary’s office. We believe it might take a few months for us to create the DDP. Once these are created, they shall be posted to the community for the required processes.
- Please note once the DDP is officially approved and in vogue, the Township shall be developed as per the DDP. Thus the question of appeal does not arise, as the allocation shall be done as per the DDP.
- As stated, there could be appeal only if we find that L’avenir d’ Auroville is not following the DDP or if proper process has not been followed in providing NOC as per DDP.
Please note the Planning part of DDP is not for appeal once it is approved.
Regarding point 3 it must be noted that an appeal should never have to be scrutinized by the group who has made the decision in order for it to be validated.
This must always be the role of an independent 3rd party to avoid a conflict of interest. Regarding the other points we understand that it is important that DDPs are followed, but regardless we still see the need for an appeal process.
We have also received recommendations from other sources to continue with the appeal process regardless of the lack of cooperation by ATDC.
But we believe that all of our community processes must be upheld by a common community agreement in order for them to be effective.
Therefore we have decided that the most appropriate course of action is to make the community aware of the situation, in the hope that the right solutions can be found.
At Her service,
Auroville Council