Bill to take over Brahmachari’s ashram sent for President’s nod
Less than a month after the Haryana Assembly passed the Aparna Institution (taking over of management and control) Bill, 2025, to take over the management of the late yoga guru Dhirendra Brahmachari’s Ashram in Gurugram, Governor Banduru Dattatreya has reserved it for the President’s consideration.
The Governor’s decision to seek President’s assent under Article 201 of the Constitution would further delay the process initiated by the BJP government to take over the prime 24-acre property in Gurugram’s Silokhra village (Sector 30).
As the Bill passed by the Assembly relates to the subject of charities, charitable institutions, charitable endowments, which comes under the Concurrent List of the Constitution on which the Union and state government are competent to make laws, it has been sent for President’s assent. Article 254 (2) of the Constitution mandates that where a law made by the state legislature with respect to matters enumerated in the Concurrent List contained any provision repugnant to the provisions of a law made by the Parliament, then the law made by the state legislature would prevail only after the President’s assent.
Under the Bill, passed on March 28 during the budget session, an administrator is sought to be appointed to manage the ashram on behalf of the state government. The Haryana Government justified its takeover by citing attempts by the disputing groups to sell the ashram’s 24-acre land for personal gain.
Brahmachari, a former yoga instructor of Indira Gandhi, founded the ashram. After his death in a 1994 plane crash, the society split into two warring factions, led by Laxman Chaudhary and Murali Chaudhry.
A major controversy erupted in 2020 when a sale deed for 24 acres was registered for just Rs 55 crore. A state government inquiry found that the land was sold to three companies at a highly undervalued price. The Gurugram DC cancelled the sale deed, a decision later upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Haryana Tribune