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New York court restrains Hindu temple trustees

Tanmaya Kumar Nanda in New York

The bells at the Ganesha temple in Flushing, one of the oldest Hindu places of worship in New York, ring a slightly discordant note these days.

The Hindu Temple Society of North America, which oversees the operations of the temple in Bowne Street, has been issued a restraining order and a show-cause notice by the New York supreme court, Queens county, with a hearing date set for August 15.

Judge Joseph G Golia has restrained the society and its board of trustees, who are the respondents, from encumbering the assets of the temple unless authorised by the members, from entering into any contract for expansion or construction of facilities, and from incurring any expenditure other than for daily religious activities.

It has also restrained them from destroying or transferring any business or financial records and asked them to provide the petitioners with a complete list of all members enrolled since 1995, with duly completed membership application forms and proof of payment of membership dues.

The driving force behind the case are two men, one a pharmacist, the other an insurance agent -- Sambasiva Venigalla and Venkaiah Dama -- who alleged that the society had flouted state laws pertaining to not-for-profit religious corporations.

They have formed a Committee for Securing Voting Rights, saying that not only is the board of trustees run in violation of state laws, but that it is often a law unto itself.

"The temple board gives out memberships in return for payments, but its by-laws do not give any voting rights to members," complains Venigalla. "State law specifically says that when there are more than one class of members, they have to have voting rights, but the temple by-laws have no such provision."

Venigalla also alleges irregularities in the voting process within the board of trustees, saying voting is arranged to suit the board's wishes.

Dama feels members need to have greater say in the election of the board. And given that the temple trust deals with millions of dollars annually, he is of the opinion that there should be more transparency in the spending of money.

As part of the petition, it is also alleged that an expansion project in 1992-93, with an initial budget of $3.5 million, eventually cost over $8 million.

Over the past two years, beginning February 2000, Dama and Venigalla have written three letters to the board asking for a list of members as well as minutes of meetings of the board of trustees and getting no response. They finally filed a petition in court on June 14, 2001.

When contacted, Uma Mysorekar, president of the HTSNA, said she would not make any comment until the court reaches a decision. "But all the allegations are false and we completely deny them," she said. "However, we will comply with whatever decision the court reaches. Beyond that, I cannot comment on anything else."

Indo-Asian News Service

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