The Vivekananda Ashram, built in 1904, remains a cornerstone of Brickfields’ rich past. — File picture by Haresh Deol

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — The board of governors of a Tamil vernacular school in Petaling Jaya have taken representatives of the Vivekananda Ashrama Kuala Lumpur to court, to challenge the validity of transaction transferring the school land from the board to the Ashrama.

The SJK (T) Vivekananda Petaling Jaya's board chairman Dr S. Silvam said they recently discovered the land had been transferred on August 16, 2012 to the Ashram by the school's former Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) chairman and two of its committee members, for the nominal sum of RM1.00.

“Documentation indicates the purpose of the land transfer to the Ashram was to expedite the construction of a school building. However there has yet to be any construction carried out by the Ashrama's board of trustees,” he said in a statement.

Dr Silvam said the Ashrama's trustees also retained part of the RM6 million allocated by the Education Ministry in 2012 for SJK (T) Vivekananda Petaling Jaya. The allocation was also meant for two other schools, SJK (T) Vivekananda and SMK Vivekananda in Kuala Lumpur.

“We challenge the transaction's validity as it is our stand the Ashrama has no rights whatsoever to own or hold the school land, since the transfer was not approved by the rest of the PTA.

“The board is also seeking the portion of the allocation meant for SJK (T) Vivekananda Petaling Jaya from the total RM6 million, which has been unlawfully held by the Ashrama's board of trustees since 2012,” he said.

As a result a suit was filed at the High Court in Shah Alam on November 22 last year, which named five defendants including the school's former PTA chairman, its two former committee members, the Ashrama, and the Registrar of Title of the State of Selangor.

“All defendants except the Registrar of Title have already filed their statement of defence in Court. The matter is fixed for case management before the Deputy Registrar of Shah Alam High Court Ahmad Feisal Bin Mohd Azmi on February 12,” Dr Silvam said.