By Sumit Saxena
New Delhi, May 18 (IANS): The Delhi Gymkhana Club has told the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) it has been facing harassment after it resisted pressure to give membership to a former high ranking member of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
The NCLT on April 24, issued notices to Delhi Gymkhana Club and its general committee (GC) managing its affairs, on a petition by MCA seeking management control of the facility. In its reply before the NCLT, through advocate Gaurav Liberhan, the club said "Insofar as the complaint of Navrang Saini is concerned, it arises out of the Club having resisted pressure to give him membership. The club verily believes that since Saini was a high-ranking member in the MCA, the harassment that the club has been facing from the Department of Corporate Affairs harps back to that episode."
Saini served as a member of the Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS). He has served the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in various capacities. His last assignment was Director General, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Saini is currently a Whole Time Member, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.
The club said that Saini along with other applicants named in the petition had paid the initial principal amount of Rs 10,000. "Their grievance is limited towards the revision of registration fee and not the imposition or the power to impose a registration fee. Needless to say these are facile arguments raised by disgruntled applicants," the club argued in its plea.
The Centre, through an urgent petition moved by MCA, had alleged "fraudulent and rampant mismanagement" by the general committee of the club, besides others, and sought to take over the management control under section 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2003. The club has refuted MCA's allegations that the club's affairs are being mismanaged by the former's general committee.
The next issue concerning membership relates to the club not discriminating between sons and daughters in the matter of issuance of Green Cards to children of members etc, the allegation being that under Article 13(3)(b) this privilege should only be extended to sons, yet the club is also extending the same to daughters.
The club said it does not practice or permit any gender discrimination. "It is respectfully submitted that the Club in its wisdom has taken progressive view in consonance with the evolution of social norms and read sons in Article 13(3)(b) to mean children (i.e. both sons and daughters) and have been acting accordingly for the last almost 40 years", argued the club.
The club said being a private club for the benefit of its members, there can be no public interest in the matter of its management or its affairs, within the meaning of Section 241 of the Act 2013.
The club told the NCLT that disgruntled members have made complaints after they lost the elections, and due to other individual grievances. "Further, the club has never invited anyone to apply and hence the money paid by the applicant is money held in trust by the club. The club has refunded the applicants money on demand to the tune of Rs 70,522,685 from 2016-17 to 2019-2020," said the club on the membership row.