Temple guru: ‘dissidents want to get rid of me’
THE beleaguered president of a Chatsworth temple has sought relief from the Durban High Court to stop a group of devotees and non members from ousting him.
This comes after a monthlong power battle at the Siva Manram temple in Havenside, which some devotees claim has been “captured” by their guru, Archie Hirasen, who is also known as Swami Somasundram Adigal, and a group of new worshippers.
The respondents are part of a newly established interim crisis committee – Elvis Padayachee (interim chairperson), Ranitha Vadivelu (treasurer) and her husband, Rajantheran.
In his founding affidavit before the court, Hirasen said he wanted the motion of no confidence in his continuation as president, guru and trustee at the temple that was passed by the committee on April 1 to be declared invalid.
He wants to carry on in all his positions until the next biennial general meeting (BGM).
He has asked the court to interdict and restrain the respondents, and any person acting through or on behalf of them from interfering with the affairs of the temple, or breaking and entering into the premises.
Hirasen also seeks an order that Ranitha Vadivelu hand over all financial records, books and other accounting records.
“Since 2010, I have had an uphill battle trying to get her to submit all the books and financial records to the accounting office for the purpose of compiling a report,” he said.
“In fact, neither any council member nor I have been presented with a complete report.
“When I began to demand to see the books, the second respondent was non-compliant and did not respond to any e-mails or telephone calls.
“In fact, her husband (Rajantheran) became angry at my persistent requests.”
Hirasen went on to say that he had requested Ranitha to arrange with the accounting officer to compile an audited report to be presented at the next biennial general meeting, which was “long overdue”.
“Unless the report is audited and signed off by the accounting manager, the BGM cannot be finalised.
“Due to no audited financial report, the BGM that I intended to schedule at the end of March 2018, had to once again be postponed.”
Hirasen claimed that a special general meeting had been called without the council’s permission and that Padayachee had told him that the committee had given itself certain powers to move a motion of no confidence in him as the head of the temple, calling for his resignation on April 1.
“The first respondent (Padayachee) is the spokesperson for this unlawful group, and it appears that the other respondents are the role-players in this saga to get rid of me as the head, for reasons best known to them,” he said in his affidavit.
“I replied to a letter sent to me by rejecting the so-called motion of no confidence in an e-mail dated April 6. I had stated that I would continue my duties as the head and did not accept the committee’s motion of no confidence.”
In an interview with Hirasen, an amputee, said since the call for his resignation his life had been difficult.
“We are truly saddened by the current state of the temple and the goings-on.
“Since our last service on April 15 we have not been able to enter as barbed-wire fencing was erected, and security guards were employed by this dissident group.
“At our last service they had blocked the entry gate with their vehicles, and we could not enter with our vehicle.
“As an amputee, this proved to be a challenge,” he said.
“There are also many elderly members and devotees who are now suffering.”
Padayachee’s attorney, Sivan Samuel, said his client had filed the notice of opposition last Monday.
“We had tried to make contact with the other party to have the matter settled out of court, but they had not got back to us to date.
“It is really sad that the matter has to now go before the court, as it should have been dealt with by a religious organisation,” said Samuel.
The couple have also filed notice of opposition.