New Delhi, Apr 2 (IANS): The administrator of the Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC), a unique watering hole in the national capital, has called for a meeting on Friday to discuss the overall functioning of the club.

DCG is in the middle of a peculiar crisis, after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on February 15, dissolved its governing council and appointed an administrator to run day-to-day affairs and check mismanagement.

The Central government was directed to nominate an administrator. Consequently, M.M. Juneja, director general of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, took charge of the club soon after. The current administrator is Vinod Kumar Yadav, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Railway Board.

According to sources familiar with the meeting, which is scheduled later in the afternoon, the administrator has planned the interaction with key members of the club, to gather details on the overall functioning. "19 members of the club have been called for the meeting. The interaction is supposed to be focussed on the daily affairs and overall management of the club", said a source.

Recently, the general committee (GC) members of the Delhi Gymkhana Club had moved the Supreme Court challenging the NCLAT order suspending the GC of the club. The appeal before the top court said: "There are no reasons accorded as to why the appointment of an Administrator for running the day-to-day affairs of the DGC, which is a private recreational club would be required."

The GC members contended that there was no need to replace the club's GC, which duly elected at the AGM held on December 31, 2020, while allegations against the club pertains from 2013 to 2018. The petition argued that NCLAT as well as the NCLT has seriously misconstrued the concept of public interest while adjudicating upon the dispute at hand. The top court is expected to hear the matter after Holi vacations.

The tribunal had noted: "Under the garb of distinctive character of the Club which is a relic of the Imperial past, the doors for membership are virtually limited to people having blue blood in their veins thereby perpetrating apartheid and shattering the most cherished Constitutional goal of securing social justice and equality of status and opportunity."

However, the GC members have contested this stating that clubs have the absolute freedom to govern themselves in accordance with their charters'. They added courts have a very limited scope of judicial review in the matter of the functioning of such clubs.