One of the members of this super exclusive club, who got the membership through the “eminent” category criterion is former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. He joined the club in 2006, giving company to other members of his party including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Hamid Ansari, who became a member of the club in 1962, and former Home and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
However, as one of the members retorted to this correspondent when asked about the benefits the club provided to the people of Delhi, “Why are journalists interested when no question has ever been raised by the distinguished ‘public servants’ about what public benefit this club provides to the general public to warrant an annual ground rent of Rs 1,000 for the nearly 28 acres of land that it has got in the heart of Delhi?”
The ground from where the club functions was given to it by the Central government on a perpetual lease. Incidentally, the officials handling the security of Rahul’s father, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had unsuccessfully tried to wrest control of the club in the late 1980s, connoisseurs of Delhi recall. The reason behind this being the club is located near the Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Race Course Road.
RECENT RUMBLINGS
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), which has approached the NCLT, had been investigating the functioning of the club for almost three years now, said officials aware of the development. The MCA had prepared at least two reports detailing the alleged goings-on in the club. These were shared with the people at the top most level of the government. It was only after the policymakers, at the ministry level were convinced that a strong case of taking over the reins of the club existed, the MCA move the NCLT.
The hearing of the case was done on April 24 through video conferencing, after which the NCLT asked the club’s 16-member governing body, headed by retired Lieutenant General D.R. Soni, to submit its response by May 13. The MCA has sought to take over the operations of the club under Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013 .
In its petition, the MCA has alleged that it had received multiple complaints in the last few years detailing the doings that were happening in the management of the club. Following this, the books of the club were inspected under Section 206(5) of the Companies Act, 2013. The petition further alleges that members of the General Committee of the Club had indulged in giving benefits to a few select members while ignoring the interest of the other members.
One major complaint that has been listed against the club is that the General Committee was collecting exorbitant amounts of money as membership fee by “inducing” new applicants, despite knowing that there is a waiting list of 20 plus years for people to become members. The same committee was, however, collecting minuscule amounts from those who were permanent members of the club.
Another serious charge that the government has levelled is that the successive General Committees of the club have functioned in a manner to remain in control of the club through a “complicated succession mechanism”. This allegedly included giving memberships. “The admission process can only be described as ‘parivaar-vaad’,” the government has stated. As per the rules of the club, two existing members have to propose and second the membership of the new member and then only the membership has a chance to get approved.
The government’s petition also alleges “arbitrary” grant of membership while stating that the membership is given after due election with a waiting list that stretches over years. The registration fee for government members is Rs 1.5 lakh and for non-government members, Rs 7.5 lakh. Government members pay Rs 5 lakh for a lifetime membership once elected, and non-government members, Rs 22 lakh.
In 2017, a member who had applied for the membership of the club 34 years ago, was asked to deposit Rs 7.5 lakh within 90 days if he wanted to stay on the waiting list—yes, just to be on the waiting list, it was alleged.
The government has further stated in its petition that to “arrest the long-standing artificial hereditary succession mode of membership”, it was necessary to appoint 15 persons as directors to the General Committee of the club/company to manage its affairs.
The club’s rules regarding adding new members into the group have always been a source of fascination for those who have the ambition to become a part of it. However, with existing members putting down their children’s names as future members, immediately after their birth, the membership of the club often revolves around “lineage”.
Th Gymkhana Club, in their response to The Sunday Guardian, shared through their legal representative, stated the petition filed by the MCA was not of public interest as it was being canvassed.
“The issue(s) involved have been subject matter of litigations in the past before different fora including Hon’ble High Court of Delhi where the Court was prima facie of the view that the Club is not acting in violation of its Articles. Giving the issue before the NLCT the color of public interest is misconceived. The Gymkhana Club has mechanisms in place which make our internal systems robust. All the actions of the club are in accordance with law and the articles. The allegations in the petition are refuted. We are a sports, literary & cultural hub which has since March, contributed over 40 Lakhs to the PMNRF & PM Cares fund and donated rations to migrants & under privileged from Day 2 of the Lockdown. The club has been completely shut down since 20.3.2020 and we will prepare a detailed response to the MCA’s petition, once the lockdown is opened. The MCA’s petition was received without prior notice or warning on 22.4.2020 and heard on 24.4.2020. We are hopeful that after going through our response, the NCLT will reject the petition as not maintainable and misconceived”, the response stated.
THE CLUB IN NUMBERS
Registered in July 1913 and designed by Edwin Landseer Lutyens, the father of “Lutyens Delhi”, Gymkhana’s first president was Spencer Harcourt Butler, the first Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (now Uttar Pradesh).
As per its book, its investments, which was Rs. 16,496.20 lakh on March 31, 2018 had increased to Rs 17,973.95 lakh on March 31, 2019.
The total value of Mutual Funds as on March 31, 2019 was Rs 19,706.42 lakh and the capital gains that it received on investments during the year was Rs 1,953.50 lakh. While the revenue from operations that it got in 2019 was Rs 63,72.26 lakh up from Rs 5,208.38 lakh that it got in 2018.
As per records, the club, as on March 31, 2019, has 29 life members, 195 members from eminent categories, 154 special corporate nominees, 17 diplomats and foreigners, 5,505 permanent members, 2,878 UCP members (use of club membership—membership which has been pending for 6-7 years) , 1,663 lady subscribers and 5,333 green card holders. In theory, 15,774 people have access to this exclusive recreational spot.
A RELIC OF BRITISH RAJ?
When it was opened in pre-Independence India, the club was conceptualised and designed as a place for the ruling classes to escape the heat, dust, humidity and the numerous natives. The idea was to find comfort inside the walls of the club, which was “exclusive” in nature and excluded ordinary Indians from its membership.
When India got Independence, the world “imperial” was dropped from the club’s name. Apart from that nothing seems to have changed more than 100 years later when it comes to making it a more inclusive institution.
It is primarily a sporting club. It has 26 grass courts—the largest number in the country—and seven clay/synthetic courts for tennis. It also has three squash courts, badminton courts, billiards room and a covered swimming pool with solar heating facilities, which makes it functional throughout the year. The dining hall has three bars. For members visiting from across the world, the club has 43 transit cottages.
It was at this club that the contours of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact between Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin were drawn and it was in this club that General K.M. Cariappa hosted a farewell party for his military colleagues who had opted to go to Pakistan at the time of Partition.
However, in an effort to keep itself exclusive the club had to rely on keeping the membership norms very strict, for which it had to work on the principle of the club’s founding fathers, which was, “We are starting an institution for our self our family and children”.
The same principle of the founding fathers, most of them British, continue to be followed even now, it is claimed. Critics point to the statement of one of the members, who, while speaking at the AGM in September 2019 said “We do not want outsiders”.
The sense of being powerful can be gauged from a statement made by another member at the same AGM when he told the general committee, “Take strict action against those who have written to MCA/SFIO. Throw them out, we are with you.”
Similarly, in the September 2018 AGM meeting of the club, one member, while referring to the complaint letter sent by 10 members of the club to the SFIO seeking investigation in the management of the club, said, “We started this institution for ourselves and our family members. I demand suspending those members who have written to the SFIO and the MCA”. Another member expressed his “shock”, while referring to members asking the SFIO to investigate the functioning of the club.
The letter addressed to the SFIO was titled: “Financial Irregularities and Criminal Conspiracy—Delhi Gymkhana Club Ltd”.
“As a rule you need to be ‘special’ and influential and someone who can conduct himself gracefully. Hence this club only takes in well established lawyers, bureaucrats, politicians, senior army officers and tax experts, not in that order”, a lawyer, whose senior colleagues are members of the club, told The Sunday Guardian.
A member of the club said that gradually, reforms are coming in the way the club functions. “The waiting period for government applicants has come down from 21 years to less than 12-15 years. About 8,500-11,000 applications are pending as of now”, the member said.
It was only in 2018 that the MCA woke up to move on to take on the club, facts indicate.
In the report by the General Committee of the club in September 2019, the Committee itself stated that members had started complaining about the club’s mismanagement to the MCA from 2014 itself.
“As a result of past complaints and observations by some members and applicants from 2014, during 2018 the MCA decided to carry out inspection of books and accounts of the Club under Section 206 of Companies Act, 2013.
“From 2018, up to now, the Club has received a stream of letters from Regional Director (North) and MCA Delhi requiring volumes of information, in batches, that has all been provided to the concerned authorities”, the committee report of the club says.
At the AGM of the club, which that was held on September 29, 2019, the secretary of the club informed the members: “As regard MCA inquiry, due to internal/external interests of the members, 23 letters have been received in last one year. In their Preliminary report, they have asked to get clarifications from the past 82 Directors since 2012 which includes membership issues, accounting procedure, use of funds, mismanagement of the Club. The matter is getting serious by the day and the next committee will have to take action on it.”
An anecdote, published on the club’s site, detailing the story behind one of its swimming pools perhaps sums up the “rich” soul of the club and its fascination with keeping itself exclusive.
“As a sporting club, the Gymkhana lacked a swimming pool and squash courts until the 1930s. The Viceregal House under construction had no swimming pools either. The viceroy’s wife Lady Willingdon was having a hard time finding a place to swim. She would have to use pools at houses of wealthy Indians in New Delhi. She was not happy about it and was getting restless with constructors working in Viceregal House. She finally found a way out and before her husband’s term ended she gifted Rs 21,000 for the construction of the swimming pool” and that’s how the club got its “Lady Willingdon Swimming Bath”.