NEW YORK, USA, July 13, 2008: In a unanimous decision issued, the New York State Court of Appeals held valid the rules and procedures under which the Hindu Temple Society of North America, Inc. has operated since its formation managing the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens
The decision, is favorable to the Temple’s board of trustees and a forceful rebuke to the six petitioners who had challenged it authority and demanded that trustees be chosen through elections.
A Temple spokesperson explains that the Ganesh Temple is incorporated as a “Free Church” under Article 9 of the New York Religious Corporations Law. As a free church, the Temple welcomes the public to worship at its Temple, but is governed by a board of trustees that, according to law, is self-perpetuating. With a self-perpetuating board, the trustees themselves are responsible for filling vacancies with new trustees chosen from the community. A self-perpetuating board, they claim, avoids the tensions and disruptions associated with regular elections and power struggles.