CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
(Room No.315, B-Wing, August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi 110 066)

           Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu (Madabhushi Sridhar)
                         Central Information Commissioner


                          CIC/SH/A/2014/000684

              A Darbari v. PIO, Willington Gymkhana Club

             RTI                     :     21.10.2013
             FAO                     :     Nil
             Second Appeal           :     15.05.2017
             Hearing                 :     12.09.2017
             Appellant               :     Present
             Public Authority        :     Absent
             Decided On              :     21.09.2017

                                     INTERIM ORDER


1.    The appellant, a senior citizen and retired civil servant brought out the
issue of lack of transparency in Gymkhana Club in Udakamandalam. He was the
Commandant of Defence Services of the Staff is the President of the Club. The
appellant said that in his prolonged career had held several coveted posts and
has been on the Board of Governors/Directors of several government/semi
government/autonomous and important organizations, professional bodies and
institutes as under:

      a. Member, Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
          Calcutta for five years
      b. Member, Board of Governors of the Central Pollution Control Board
          under the Ministry of Environment under the provision of Water
          (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 since 1995 to June 1999
      c. Member of the Governing Body, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi
          since 1989 to June 1999
      d. Member of Central Government Consumer Protection Council under the
          Consumer Protection Act, 1986 for a period of three years
      e. Trustee of the National Book Trust, India, New Delhi for three years
      f. Elected    Member      of    Governing   Body   of   All   India   Management
          Association for the year 1991-92
      g. Elected Member of Executive Board of Standing Conference of Public
          Enterprise (SCOPE), whose Patron-in-Chief is the Prime Minister, since
CIC/SH/A/2014/000684                                                              Page 1
           1991 for 4 terms of 2 years each and after that he has not contested.
          This is an apex body, representing Public Sector Enterprises
      h. Member of Development Council for Cement Industry appointed by the
          Ministry of Industry, Government of India
      i. Member, Board of Governors of National Council for Cement & Building
          Materials under Ministry of Industry, Government of India
      j. President, Public Enterprises Center for Human Resource Development
          (PECHARD), New Delhi controlled by CCI
      k. Director on the Board of Directors of Wagon India Ltd., New Delhi
      l. Member, Managing Committee of Cement Manufacturers' Association
      m. Director, Bulk Cement Corporation (India) Ltd., Mumbai
      n. Member of the National Governing Council of Institute of Marketing and
          Management
      o. Patron, National Foundation of Indian Engineers in the year 1988-89,
          whose   Patron-in-Chief was      Mr. Abid       Hussain, Hon'ble Member,
          Planning Commission
      p. Member of the Managing Committee of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute
          for Handicapped (formerly All India Gram Pradhan Sangathan)

2.   Besides, the appellant has also been actively associated with the following
NGOs:

      a. Former Working President, All India Human Resource Development
          Society, New Delhi
      b. Former    Principal   Advisor,   Society   for    Rural   Development    and
          Upliftment for Poor, New Delhi
      c. Former Advisor, Institute of Environmental Management and Social
          Development, Sector-14, Gurgaon
      d. Ex-Member, Managing Committee, Mahatma Gandhi Institute for
          Handicapped (formerly All India Gram Pradhan Sangathan)

3.      Apart from these, Shri Anand Darbari has bagged several awards, the
notable being:

      a. All India Organization of Employer's Award for 1993-94 for outstanding
          achievement in Industrial Relations in CCI. During the year 1993-94,
          there was ZERO man-hour loss due to Industrial Relation Problems in

CIC/SH/A/2014/000684                                                             Page 2
          CCI. The award was received as CMD, CCI from the Labour Minister,
         Government of India on 08.12.1994
      b. Kunkunta Unit of CCI has been given the Best Energy Performance
         Award in the Cement Industry for the year 1989-90 instituted by NCB
         in association with Govt. of India, Ministry of Energy. The award was
         received as CMD, CCI from the Union Energy Minister.
      c. Kohinoor Ratna Award in 1991 for individual contribution to National
         Growth and Prosperity
      d. Shiromani Award also in 1991 for Excellence in Corporate Management
      e. Indira   Gandhi   Priya   Darshani   Award   for   outstanding   services,
         achievements and contributions
      f. Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award.


4.   With all this merit the appellant applied for membership in the club which
was neither refused nor accepted. When he sought to know what happened, the
club refused even to give any information generally. Then he approached under
Right to Information Act, by filing a formal application seeking information: a)
number of applications received and pending for outstation membership in
Willington Gymkhana Club (WGC) with a deposit of Rs. Five Lakh as on
01.09.2012; b) number of applications considered and approved by the
Managing Committee of WGC; c) number of rejected applications; d) whether
the membership was given as per serial number according to seniority, if not the
criterion fixed for giving membership and the criterion fixed for rejecting the
application; e) genesis of the grounds fixed for giving the membership and for
rejecting the application for membership; f) minutes of each meeting of the
Managing Committee as well as of the Sub-Committee for membership, where
the decision to appoint or reject the applications for membership was taken;
g) names of the applicants given the membership and the names of those not
given and rejected in the outstation category and h) break-up of the applicants
given the membership in the outstation category and how many civilians and
people from defence background. Since no information was given, the appellant
approached this Commission. The Club refused to give information claiming that
it was not public authority under RTI Act.




CIC/SH/A/2014/000684                                                          Page 3
 5.    Appellant said that respondent body is a public authority because the

Government gave a huge and very valuable land in Udakamandalam (Ooty) to the Wellington Gymkhana Club by the government, without which it cannot provide space and facilities for various sports including Golf. Despite being a public authority under RTI Act, 2005, the WGC is wrongfully claiming that it was not so, with a motive to exercise arbitrary power in allotting membership without following any seniority or reasonable criterion. When he applied for membership four years ago, he was refused the membership. The complainant said that till date no information has been provided to him about his application. "Minimum courtesy and fairness demands to tell me if my application was rejected and I must be explained the reasons for rejected". He also submitted to the Commission that when requested for the status, one office-bearer said "Sorry sir, you know the system".

6. Shri Anand Darbari further submitted: The Wellington Gymkhana Club is an affiliated club of Delhi Gymkhana Club. If the latter is providing benefits/facilities to its members and maintaining the seniority-list-applicants- waiting for membership, why not the WGC follow the same? He filed the application for membership under the category of outstation-applicant, as he would be going once in a year to his in-laws place and would like to spend there. An exorbitant amount Rs. 7.5 lakh was charged with the application.

7. The Wellington Gymkhana Club, whether public authority under RTI Act or not, has a duty as a trustee to be transparent in its administration when it is dealing with hue landed property including the money of the public. If what complainant stated is true, it's deplorable and also a shame to hear about such trustees. Neither parties submitted any material to support their contentions. Hence the Commission directs appellant, the CPIO, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the President of the Wellington Gymkhana Club to submit material in support of their claims including the following:

a. Documents pertaining to the allocation of land to the Wellington Gymkhana Club WGC;

b. Recognition, registration and certification granted to WGC, if any; c. Audit Reports of balance sheet for the last five years;

d. List of members with the date on which membership was given CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 4 e. List of applications for membership pending along with the date of application, date of consideration, the number-indicating seniority, if any, etc

8. All parties shall exchange their documents and submit them to the Commission before 16.10.2017 along with acknowledgement of service of copies on other parties.

9. The case is posted on 17.10.2017 at 2:00PM.

SD/-

(M. Sridhar Acharyulu) Central Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy (Dinesh Kumar) Deputy Registrar Copy of decision given to the parties free of cost.

Addresses of the parties:

1. The CPIO under RTI, Wellington Gymkhana Club, Wellington, Barracks Post, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.

2. Shri A Darbari,




CIC/SH/A/2014/000684                                                         Page 5