Hindu board members sue president

FIVE members of the executive of a Hindu-based organisation which runs nine vedic schools in Trinidad are seeking an injunction, accusing the president of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Trinidad (APST) of not complying with decisions, refusing to provide financial statements and threatening to remove them from the executive.

The five – Vidya Ramachala, Kismatee Seepersad, Ravi Rambarran, Sangeeta Jagdeo and Parvati Ragunanan – have taken the APST and its president Petronilla Basdeo to court. The matter is being heard by Justice Carol Gobin and has been adjourned to July 2, to deal with a preliminary issue.

The five are represented by attorney Saira Lakhan. Anand Ramlogan, SC, represents Basdeo and Michael Rooplal represents the APST. In their injunction application, the five say there is a real risk that they could be suspended or expelled from the executive of the APST because of their demands for transparency in the running of the affairs of the school management board.

The APST is headquartered at the Montrose Vedic School, in Chaguanas, and receives an annual subvention from the Education Ministry of $2 million for the maintenance of the nine schools and for paying cleaners.

Ramachala, in an affidavit filed in support of the injunction application, said she was threatened and was booted off the school board in June after she raised complaints. She wants the injunction so that she can remain secretary of the school board, and she and the others want the injunction restraining the APST from going to the Education Ministry with complaints about them and further subjecting them to disciplinary proceedings on allegations of misconduct. The five also want the president to produce the school board’s financial reports.

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