Delhi Gymkhana members welcome SC observation on conducting election in the club

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The members of the Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC) have welcomed the observations made by the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the Centre why it is difficult to hold elections in the club and that the current Administrator, Om Pathak, of the club cannot continue perennially.

Former club President, Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia (retd) said the club is totally funded by the members and there is no funding by the government, corporates or the public at large. "It is therefore imperative that the members elect their own governing body of the Club. It has been over one year since an Administrator was appointed. Till date no wrongdoing has been established by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Therefore, how does it justify the takeover? A duly elected governing body must be given control immediately," he added.

Former General Committee member of the DGC, Rajeev Sabharwal said the club members welcome the observations made by the apex court. "This will instill confidence in the minds of members of the club and also reaffirm the faith in the decision at the highest level of judiciary," he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday observed that elections must be conducted and the DGC administrator cannot continue perennially, as it gave four weeks to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to conclude the proceedings into the matter.

A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and C.T. Ravikumar told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, that "Elections must be conducted sometime, what is the difficulty...administrator cannot continue perennially. Elections have to take place. You cannot have associations without elections."

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing Delhi Gymkhana Club members, said: "We want to hold the elections. The administrator cannot continue in perpetuity."

Kaul cited the apex court order, passed on September 30, last year, directing the NCLT to decide the entire matter afresh within four months' time, and if not decided within this period, then the Administrator should conduct elections to install a duly elected committee.

He said the four-month period was completed in February, yet the Administrator is not ready to hold the elections.

Justice Khanwilkar told Mehta that a self-operating order was passed in September last year. Mehta requested the court to grant two weeks to the NCLT to complete the proceedings in the matter.

Concluding the hearing, Justice Khanwilkar said: "It must be made clear, if the tribunal is unable to complete the proceedings (within four weeks), the self-operating order will come into play, thereafter the Administrator would have to install a committee by conducting elections."

The bench made it clear that it will not entertain any request by the Centre to extend the time period for the tribunal to complete the proceedings.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Sabharwal and other club members challenging the February 15, 2021 NCLAT order, which dissolved the club's GC and directed the Centre to appoint an Administrator to manage its affairs, after the Ministry of Corporate Affairs moved the tribunal alleging corruption, mismanagement, and nepotism in the club.

On September 30, in a major relief for the former general committee of the club, the Supreme Court, while hearing the appeals filed against the NCLAT, remanded the matter back to the NCLT and asked it to settle it within four months.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, in April 2020 moved the NCLT under sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013, seeking to supersede the club's general committee and allow it to nominate 15 persons as directors to run the club's affairs.

The NCLT in June, 2020, had asked the government to constitute a five-member special committee to enquire into the affairs of the club, among other issues.