In an article received and published under the name of “Board of Trustees,” the executive committee would like to clarify the ongoing issues at the Hindu Mandir. The response below is from the Executive Committee headed by President Pratik Dudhia.

Again, this publication has no vested interest in the current disagreements among the Board Members except for reporting on the current state of affairs impacting the South Asian community. Over the years, this publication has propitiously advocated that the Board has a fiduciary duty to follow the adopted bylaws for the betterment of the Southern Nevada Hindu community.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article below is submitted by the Executive Committee headed by President Pratik Dudhia and are not an opinion of or endorsement by vegasdesi.com. The editor is pleased to provide vegasdesi.com with an open forum for the community members to engage in issues impacting the small but prosperous local Hindu community. 

It has come to our attention that a message was sent to the Community from ‘Board of Trustees, Hindu Society of Nevada’.

There has been NO Board of Trustees meeting, either in person or email to discuss and send out this information. It appears that this message was sent by certain Trustees in a desperate attempt to cling to power. 

The duly appointed executive committee on January 14, 2024 (Pratik Dudhia – President, Bharti Gupta – Vice President, Soumendra Mukerjee – Secretary and Rakesh Patel – Treasurer) would like to share the following information with the Community. 

1. Certain Trustees changed the date of nominations to the Executive committee without the approval of the nomination committee to facilitate certain people to apply beyond the deadline for accepting nominations. This is against the By-Laws of the Temple. 
2. The Trustees who extended the deadline then nominated a Personal Attorney to one of the Trustees as the Temple Legal Counsel. This is against the By-Laws of the Temple. This Attorney’s services have since been terminated. 
3. Another Trustee scheduled an Emergency meeting of the Board of Trustees to validate the illegal election of the Executive Committee held on December 10, 2023. This meeting was subsequently cancelled as it was against the By-laws of the Temple.
4. These same Trustees have since hired an External Attorney under the pretext of representing the Temple and possibly using Temple funds to pay for her services. This is against the By-laws of the Temple.  
5. Mr Gopi Latpate has refused to hand over the Temple website and WhatsApp login information to the new Executive Committee. 
6. Mr Latpate has also locked certain facilities in the Temple and kept the keys at his personal residence including the keys to the Temple Hundi.  

In addition, in discussion with several Trustees who have served on the Board for over 20+ years, it has come to light that there has been a complete disregard for the By-Laws since the new Temple By-laws were approved on June 6, 2021. 

1. 3 Trustees were appointed without due process and without the required votes. 1 of these Trustees was also elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees and then subsequently resigned both as a Trustee and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. 
2. A new position of Co-Chairman was created to bypass the duly elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
3. There was tremendous interference from certain Trustees in the day-to-day administration of the Temple and especially in the interference in the activities of our Priests. 
4. Certain Trustees who used the services of outside Priests were making adverse decisions on the activities of our Priests. 

As a non-profit organization, we feel it is extremely important to follow the By-Laws of the Organization. 

That being said, we have been handling all day-to-day administration of the Temple since our Election on January 14, 2024, and we will continue to devote our time and energy for the rest of our term, which will end on December 31, 2026. 
Since the previous Executive Committee did not hand over any items to us, we are forced to recreate the Temple What’s App and Email Distribution system. We ask for your patience as we bring these platforms up to speed. 

These are some of the Items that we as the Executive Committee will address immediately:

1. The Food Committee: The ‘Pay for Food’ Canteen will be eliminated. We will assign Volunteer Groups to prepare lunch every Sunday that will be provided FREE for all devotees. At this point, we have already identified 80 Sponsors for the Sunday lunch Program. We will also find Sponsors so FREE prasad is provided to all Devotees during all the major events at the Temple. This program will start March 3, 2024. 
2. The Puja and Priest Committee: will revisit the Puja fee structures and will implement across the board Puja fee reductions enabling all devotees to be able to afford Temple Pujas.
3. The Budget and Finance Committee: will review and make recommendations to increase Temple revenue including organizing fund raisers. 
4. Building and Maintenance Committee: will ensure that the Temple is cleaned every week, and the facilities are well maintained. 
5. We are in discussions with a new Advisory Committee to help us in managing the operations of the Temple for the next 2 years.

We look forward to seeing you at the Temple at our next big event – Maha Shivrathri on March 8, 2024.

With Best Regards to all,

Executive Committee:

• Pratik Dudhia – President
• Bharti Gupta – Vice President
• Soumendra Mukerjee – Secretary
• Rakesh Patel – Treasurer