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Do you know these facts about FOKANA?

In July 2006 at Orlando convention, the trustee board elected three election commissioners, Mr.N.G.Mathew, Dr.Anirudhan and Mr.T.S.Chacko who conducted the general election for the new executive board consisting of total 27 poeple.    

The selection of the 2008 Fokana convention site was to be voted also.

There were two cities competing, Houston and Philadelphia. For Houston Mr.Sasidharan Nair put up his arguments and for Philadelphia, Thampi chacko did the canvassing. Mr. George Mathew from Philadelphia was in support of Houston with a valid point that 2004 convention was in New Jersey just 30 miles from Philadelphia and he firmly believeds Houston should get a chance. The outcome was a landslide victory for Sasidharan Nair and Houston.

Since the site for the convention is settled, the election commission turned to the election of all the candidates. After the site was confirmed, there was a general understanding that since there was only one candidate from the host city (Houston) as precedence if there is only one candidate from that city he will be declared as a President. (This is what we did at Rochester convention when Mr. Kalathil Pappachan was the only one candidate from San Jose the commissioners declared him as a winner and Mr. Koruth and Savy Mathew graciously accepted the verdict.

But here our election commissioners conducted the election for all the candidates and then counted all the votes except for the president.Then the three election commissioners unanimously declared Sasidharan Nair as president since he was the only presidential candidate from Houston. There was a statement signed to this effect and made it as record by the three election commissioners.

In fact Dr. Anirudhan took the liberty to announce all these winners in public and other two agreed with him. At that point not a single individual raised any objection or lodged any written complaint about the election.

But Sunday there was some resentment and Thampi Chacko did not accept the verdict and protested the election saying he is the winner and demand a count of president’s vote. So T.S.Chacko went to the room  of N.G.Mathew and counted the votes. He found Sasidharan Nair had 186 votes and Thampi Chacko had 106 votes. But Mr.T.S.Chacko turned out to be a villain and took this opportunity to use this opportunity to escalate the animosity between himself and N.G.Mathew. Because T.S.Chacko wanted to be the chief election commisioner  and N.G.Mathew was his main rival.

So he accused N.G.Mathew of committin fraud in election and our so called founder president of Fokana Mr. ANIRUDHAN joined the conspiracy and they both objected the declaration of the election result which they had already declared.

Remember it was only Sunday and still if they wanted the election commissioners could have rectified the problem or even they could have conducted another vote for the president. More over the only person who was in opposition to the election was Thampi Chacko who was not ready to accept his defeat.

The Treasurer candidate Mr. M.G.Mathew who is from Houston won with a landslide. The Secretary Candidate Mr. Anyian George won by 174 votes. All the members of Sasidharan Nair’s panel won with a vast majority.

I want you to think for a moment, in Fokana history there was never been a huge victory like this. But the egoistic nature of Thampi Chacko, animocity against N.G.Mathew by two so called veterans Mr.T.S.Chacko and Dr. Anirudhan (who is no more holding any position after this election and took the attitude as after me the deluge) and these people ignored their responsibility and the problem was never solved.

Thampi Chacko eventually filed a lawsuit against the three election commissioners at the Montgomery court in Maryland. The court rejected the case saying that it has no jurisdiction in Maryland against these three people. So Thampi Chacko Included Fokana also as a defendant along with N.G.Mathew, T.S.Chacko And Dr. Anirudhan.

Here the case took  a wild turn. The two people, whom the trustee board entrusted to conduct the election AND SUPPOSEd TO BE THE WELL WISHERS turned against FOKANA. Friends, the very own people, one of them who is the so called Founder President who in his own hand writing, declared all the results and winners along with his conspirator T.S.Chacko gave an affidavit in the Montgomery Court supporting THAMPI CHACKO, ACCEDPTING THE VERY ELECTION THEY CONDUCTED WAS A FRUD AND SO THE ELECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE SHALL BE NULLIFIED. WHEN COURT GOT THIS AFFIDAVIT FROM THESE TWO, WHEN TWO OUT OF THREE DEFENDENTS TIUNED FROM DEFENDANT TO PLANTIF THE JUDGE GAVE A SUMMARY JUDGMENT NULLIFYING THE ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE BOARD OF ALL 27 PEOPLE. THEY NEVER INCLUDED TRUSTEE BOARD, WHICH WAS A MISTAKE THEY DID.

THERE WAS ANOTHER ACOMPLICE R.PARTHASARATHY PILLAI FROM MARYLAND WHO IS THE REGISTERD AGENT ON THE RECORD FOR FOKANA, WAS THE ONLY PERSON COURT SENDS A NOTICE OF THE HEARING SET FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT. THIS SO CALLED VETERAN DID NOT REVEAL IT TO ANY FOKANA OFFICIALS EXCEPT HIS SO CALLED FRIENDS AND HE KEPT IT AS A SECRET UNTIL 18TH OF JUNE 2007 AND THAMPI CHACKO WAS JUBILANT IN KILLING FOKANA AND I GAVE HIM THE DESIGNATION OF MURDEROR OF FOKANA.

Friends, my question is what Thampi Chacko accomplished by this law suit. An organization which was in existence for last 25 years with the hard work of thousands of people who earned a good reputation in the world was totally annihilated by the mere selfishness, egocentric attitude animosity and group mentality of certain individuals, like Thampi Chacko, Dr. Anirudhan, T.S.Chacko and their more accomplices.

In my opinion these individuals shall be proclaimed as our public enemies and shall be ridiculed in appropriate language by all Keralites and raise your voice against such injustice. Let their soul grieve what they did for our society.

Sasidharan Nair

A meeting of the Board of Directors and and the General Council will be convened to end the present crisis in the organization, Fokana Trustee Board chairman George Koshy and secretary Kuriakose Varghese said. It will be in conformity with the court ruling.

The date will be decided by a trustee board meeting to be held soon, they said. The general council will cosist of current members only.

Sources in the official group said that they are fed up with the politics and cases. They are not able to function properly or take decisions. They said they are not afraid to face the electorate. A meeting of the general council is the only way to end the crisis, they noted.

They feel that some people want to control the organization using remote control. They also pointed out that they were elected by the people with huge majority. So there is no question of accepting posts like chairman or convener as suggested by the other group. They are not ready to operate without legitimate power also.

Meanwhile, a revision petition filed in the Montgomery court to reconsider the earlier decision nullifying the election is pending. But they are not sure when it will be taken for consideration.

In such a situation, the easiest way is to convene a meeting of the general council, which is the highest body in the organization. The council can decide whether a new election is needed. They can also ratify an election.

The general council was not convened for the last four years. It met before the the election in Orlando with the sole agneda of election.

The official group feels that they can win any election without any problem. the other group has not much support from organizations or people, they feel.

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The Fokana Trustee Board headed by TS Chacko met at the Tastes of India Restaurant in Bergenfield, New Jersey today and took several important decisions.

One major decision was to inquire with the association in Houston whether they are willing to conduct the silver jubilee convention next year as scheduled. They can select anybody to conduct the convention. The members said they have no problem if Sasidharan Nair and Aniyan George are entrusted with this. But giving them the title of president and secretary may go against the ruling of the court. They could be given any other title such as chairman or convener.

The Trustee Board will give all the help to conduct the convention.

If the association in Houston is not willing to host the convention, the Trustee Board will immediately call the meeting of the Board of Directors and the general council to decide the future. The board of directors consists of officials of member organizations. In the general council, in addition to them, representatives selected from each association are also members.

The meeting decided to fill up the three vacancies arising from the court ruling. For these positions, the meeting selected Alex Thomas of Philadelphia, Raju Zachariah of New York and Matson Kokkura as youth representative.

They will hold the post till alternative arrangements are made and it is only a temporary arrangement.

The meeting decided to contact with the ten regional organizations and ascertain their views immediately.

Three associations were given membership in Fokana. They are, Kaiarli Arts Club of South Florida, Kerala Arts and Literary Association, Athens, Georgia and Malayalaee Association of Maryland.

All the programs to be conducted in the name of Fokana should get the approval of the Trustee Board. This is to prevent financial problems for Fokana.

Another major decision was to ask the former presidents, George Koshy (2002-2004) and George Korath (2004-2006) to submit the accounts before July 30. The Fokana is facing problems regarding tax etc. Audited reports are necessary to file for tax.

Korath, who was present at the meeting said that he will present the account within 30 days.

Members said they have no information about any appeal filed against the court decision nullifying the election. As far as they know, there is no legal proceedings going on except one related to the 2004 convention.

They said the new Trustee Board members are qualified because they held positions in National Executive earlier. The ‘disqualified’ members cannot be selected as they had no such prior experience as per the constitution.

They also said they did not go to the youth festival held in Chicago because they did not want to create a problem. “This is a cultural organization. (samsakarika sanghtana.) We did not want to create ‘samskara rahityam,’ TS Chacko said.

Some of the disqualified people still give news as RVP etc. Yet we do not want to create problems based on that, they clarified.

The scheduled convention in Kottyam can go on. But without consulting the trustee board, it will not be a Fokana program, but that of AKMG, John Issac noted.

Korath said he tried to bring unity many times. Even the doors are still open. But we have to obey the ruling of the court, he said.

TS Chacko said the board met unofficially on May 27. But George Koshy did not attend. When George Koshy called a meeting we participated. But we could not agree to include the three members in the committee,’ he noted.

Koshy and Mathew Cheruvil continue to be members of the board, they said.

It is not possible to have a reelection based on the same old voters list and same candidates, Paul Karukappillil noted. Last time only one candidate filed a case. If a new election is held with the old list, more cases may come. The main reason is that many in the voters list were sent by organizations which did not have the required number of members.

They said people will accept this trustee board as it is elected by them only. The board will try to protect the interests of Fokana and it will go to court for this, if necessary.

Matson said he stepped in to the board just to keep the organization strong. It is very disheartening to see the problems in such a great organization, he said.

Raju Zachariah said he is not here to play politics, but to bring the organization back to its importance.

The Fokana Trustee Board headed by TS Chacko (chair) and John Issac (secretary) has called for a an emergency meeting on June 24, 1 pm at Tastes of India, Bergenfield, New Jersey.

The agenda is the following: To take immediate steps to solve the present crisis,  as per the decision made at the meeting on May 27 in New York attended by TS Chacko, Mathew Cheruvil, Paul Karukappillil, George Korath and John Issac.

Fill three vacancies created in the Trustee Board due to the court vedict that nullified the election held on June 30, 2006.

Convene a meeting of the Board of Directors of Fokana.

Convene a  meeting of the General Council to solve the crisis in Fokana.

Silver jubilee celebrations of Fokana.

Any other relevant matter approved by the chair.

The Thampy Chacko group said that their attorney had not recieved any intimation about an appeal or revision petition.

There is a lot of guess going on about a possible court verdict today from the Montgomery County Court in Maryland about Fokana election.

The Sasidharan Nair-Aniyan George group expects the court will give an interim order, or at least it may clarify about the earlier order nullifying the election held on June 30, 2006.

They also expect that it will be favorable to them and the impasse in Fokana will end with it.

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