Honourable High Court of Karnataka dismissed an appeal filed by some of
the followers of ISKCON Mumbai on April 9th, 2015. Honourable Justice
Anand Byrareddy was hearing an appeal filed by followers of ISKCON
Mumbai seeking to get control of ISKCON Bangalore Society (Regn. No.
S.49/78-79), claiming that they are the actual Governing body members.
Earlier the same application was filed in the City Civil Court as OS
1758 of 2003 in Bangalore by ISKCON Mumbai followers and had been
dismissed.
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| Amiya Vilas Swami |
In the City Civil Court, Sri Amiya Vilas Swami and
other followers of ISKCON Mumbai had claimed that they were the
original founding members of ISKCON Bangalore Society (Regn. No.
S.49/78-79). They had alleged that Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa and others had
illegally taken over the society and were imposters. In an elaborate
judgment running into several hundred pages, the Trial Court said that
the claims of ISKCON Mumbai followers was legally untenable and
dismissed their suit with costs.
During the course of the trial, some of the
followers of ISKCON Mumbai including Sri Amiya Vilas Swami and others
withdrew from the suit. But the remaining followers of ISKCON Mumbai
went on an appeal before the Honourable High Court of Karnataka. During
the course of the appeal, some more followers of ISKCON Mumbai withdrew
from the suit citing various reasons. Sri Prasannatma Das, a follower of
ISKCON Mumbai was the lone appellant left for some considerable time.
Recently, Sri Amiya Vilas Swami once again sought to impaled himself as
an additional appellant. Today, the Honourable High Court dismissed his
application and the entire appeal itself on merits.
It may be recalled that ISKCON Mumbai is
predominantly controlled by self-made Acharyas (not appointed by the
Founder and Acharya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada). Although Srila
Prabhupada had given a written institutional directive on how he shall
continue to be the Acharya of the institution and his senior disciples
shall act as Representative of the Acharya, soon after his passing away,
his immediate followers usurped the position of Acharya in ISKCON.
This has led to much abuse of powers, financial and moral corruption
which is continuing even to this day all over the world. When Sri Madhu
Pandit Dasa and other members of ISKCON Bangalore questioned ISKCON
leaders in 1999 on these matters, ISKCON Mumbai and their agents and
followers have been trying to oust Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa and others from
the well-known ISKCON temple on Hare Krishna Hill, Rajajinagar,
Bangalore. Devotees of ISKCON Bangalore following the written directives
of ISKCON Founder-Acharya, Srila Prabhupada, adheres to the directive
that Srila Prabhupada continues to remain the sole initiating Guru and
Acharya of ISKCON; whereas ISKCON Mumbai seeks to appoint successors to
Srila Prabhupada, who will act as Acharyas based on a no-objection
voting system. In 1999, the followers of ISKCON Mumbai and their
self-made Acharyas tried to physically storm the Temple on Hare Krishna
Hill, which forced devotees of ISKCON Bangalore to file a suit seeking a
permanent injunction of non-interference in its affairs against ISKCON
Mumbai and its self-made gurus.
Finding that their authority was disturbed, the
self-made gurus of ISKCON resorted to all kinds of unethical, political
means to disturb the yeoman services rendered by the devotees of ISKCON
Bangalore. One such attempt was filing of this frivolous suit through
some followers of ISKCON Mumbai falsely claiming to vest control of the
ISKCON Bangalore society (regn no S.49/78-79). The Honourable High
Court’s verdict today ensured that these frivolous claims come to a
naught.
Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, President of ISKCON
Bangalore said, “It is indeed a great victory for the devotees of ISKCON
Bangalore who have been subjected to relentless harassment by the
self-made gurus of ISKCON. We hope that the self-made gurus of ISKCON
will stop disturbing the various services rendered by ISKCON Bangalore
to the society.”
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| Shanka Britha Dasa, Amiya Vilas Swami & Madhu Pandit Dasa at ISKCON Bangalore Ratha Yatra 2009 |
