Hostile takeover of Balaji Temple: Attempt by Company directors: Staff and the devotees harassed

There was a major disruption to the smooth running of the Balaji Temple last Sunday (31 July 2016). There has been a long running dispute between the Trust SVBT and some of its former trustees who had joined the company TTBT, a dormant company set up many years ago by the charity SVBT charity. On Sunday afternoon, things came to a head when Dr KS Rajah, a former Trustee of SVBT and a director of TTBT, came to the Temple with his lawyer Mr Gurvir Birang of West London Law and 4 private security guards. The lawyer loudly announced that TTBT was ‘taking over the Temple’ to run it under the aegis of the Company. Some of the newly appointed Trustees of SVBT happened to be holding a meeting in the temple at that time with candidates for an on-going election to the Trustee positions. The office staff, the priests and some of the devotees felt highly intimidated by the lawyer and the security guards. The Lawyer, claiming to be representing the company, tried to issue a letter to the temple employees informing them that the company was taking over and their employment status would change. A verbal altercation ensued between the devotees and this group of intruders attempting to take over the Temple Management. The police had to be called to prevent any further intimidation from the intruders. The temple called its lawyer to come to the temple to talk to Mr Gurvir Birang. Peace was eventually restored after nearly six hours when the lawyers for the 2 sides agreed to a process by which the Temple staff could formally be served a notice by Dr Rajah’s lawyer to the effect that they would henceforth be the employees of the company and that they would need to agree to this if they wished to continue working in the Temple. Several staff members have said that they felt anxious due to such a sudden notice being given to them regarding their employment status and they have subsequently called in to report absence due to illness from stress and anxiety. It appears that this rogue group of company directors have managed to convince the banks to freeze all the temple accounts and block the credit card transactions. Day to day expenses of running the temple have been adversely affected. The resident youth camp of 150 children from the age of 8 onwards could have been left without food and accommodation but for some devotees and members coming forth with assistance with funds privately. SVBT Chairman, Dr VP Narayan Rao, said; “The Temple has continued to remain very much a going concern under the management of the Trust for the past 30 years. Three former trustees, Dr Rajah, Mr Ramana Rao and Mr Joginder Sanger seem determined to take over the Temple, even by hostile means, on behalf of the Company. If this is allowed to happen, the danger is that the Temple will be run by remote unelected businessmen from London disregarding the wishes of the Members of the Charity, local stakeholders, and the local community. We intend to oppose this illegal take-over by all means available to us including court action”