Spin and Hype of ISKCON Mumbai

Date: 08-Jul-2011
To, 
Editor,

1. First of all, who am I?  

2. My name is V.L.Varadarajan. I am a Chartered Accountant and I was appointed as the statutory auditor to ISKCON Bangalore, a Society registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960. I performed my role as the statutory auditor to ISKCON, Bangalore most diligently until the close of the 2005-2006 financial year.

3. On June 6, 2011 Sampradaya Sun had posted an article titled “Madhu Pandit Dasa's chief accountant found guilty by ICAI of cooking the books” by Bangalore Correspondent. In the article he alleges “... they have held Mr V. L. Varadarajan guilty of professional misconduct on three counts...”. I would like to clarify that I am not Madhu Pandit Dasa's auditor, I was an auditor of ISKCON Bangalore(Reg. 1978). The findings that are referred to by ISKCON, Mumbai are that of a disciplinary committee of ICAI, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

 4. It is true that ISKCON, Mumbai had lodged a disciplinary proceeding against me before the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India primarily to complain about what they perceived as ‘professional misconduct’ on my part in discharging my duties to ISKCON, Bangalore.

5. You will clearly see that ISKCON Mumbai has said that ‘I am the auditor to Madhu Pandit Dasa’. As a matter of fact, that statement is a deliberate lie. I am not and I was not the auditor to Madhu Pandit Dasa. Rather, I was appointed as the auditor to ISKCON Bangalore. And, I hold Madhu Pandit Dasa in very high regard and I stand by all of my professional endorsements given in relation to ISKCON Bangalore.

6. I have protested before the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the decision of the Disciplinary Committee is simply in the nature of a ‘recommendation’. It is not an Order and it does not give effect to anything. In short, it is of a ‘provisional nature’ only.

7. I do not know if ISKCON, Mumbai will be properly enlightening you on the relevant legal aspects. The law applicable to these facts is such that this Report will now be forwarded to the Council established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. The Council will then call upon the professional concerned to contest the same and only after hearing him will the Council proceed to arrive at a decision. This decision may either be:  

• • Confirming the findings of the Disciplinary Committee;
  • Or dismissing the findings of the Disciplinary Committee and agreeing with the argument of the Respondent(meaning me) that he is not ‘guilty of any professional misconduct’;

 8. Further, if the Council were to decide that the professional concerned is ‘guilty of professional misconduct’, it will have to forward its recommendation to the High Court. The High Court may or may not agree with the Council. Only after the High Court confirms the recommendation of the Council will those recommendations become final.

9. Now, I, V.L.Varadarajan would like to bring to your notice and information that the Report of the Disciplinary Committee is vitiated by numerous errors of law and fact. I would be shortly approaching an appropriate forum to redress such errors of law and facts. Having said so much, I would like to request you to not publish any part of the Report in view of the fact that the said Report is of a provisional nature and that the same does not constitute the ‘decision’ of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

10. I would like to further invite your attention to the fact that a professional survives solely on his reputation and his integrity. ISKCON Mumbai is seeking to damage my reputation for the sole purpose of influencing public opinion in relation to their dispute with ISKCON Bangalore.

11. I would like to impress upon you, to not knowingly let ISKCON Mumbai manipulate the purpose of defaming an honest professional in the hope of influencing public opinion against ISKCON Bangalore. If you were to fall for ISKCON Mumbai’s lies here, you would have to recognise that my hard earned reputation and character would be damaged and harmed and no amount of later rebuttal or clarification will be able to compensate me for the lost reputation.

12. I therefore, earnestly request you, to not publish or to even indicate to your readers, any part of the content of the Report of the Disciplinary Committee that might come into your possession as a result of ISKCON Mumbai’s communication with you.

13. I will be instituting appropriate legal proceedings, civil and criminal, against ISKCON Mumbai for the steps they have taken to defame my reputation and character.

Sincerely 
V.L.VARADARAJAN B.Sc., F.C.A., LL.B 
Chartered Accountant and Lawyer
123/1, 2nd Cross, 5th Main
I Block, I Stage, HBR Layout
Bangalore 560 043

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