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CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
(Room No.313, CIC Bhawan, Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka, New Delhi-110067)
Before Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu (Madabhushi Sridhar), CIC
CIC/SH/A/2014/000684
A Darbariv. PIO, Willington Gymkhana Club
Order Sheet:
RTI filed on 21.10.2013, CPIO reply NIL, FAO NIL, Second appeal filed on 15.05.2017,
First hearing: 12.09.2017; heard both the parties and directed to exchange of documents to be
submitted and posted to 17.10.2017;
Proceedings on 17.10.2017: Appellant is present, Public Authority represented by Dr. Israel K.
Mani, Management Committee Member (Legal) and Mr.AbhirDatt, fort Wellington Gymkhana Club:
Date of Decision 04.12.2017: Disposed of with directions.
FINALORDER
1. The appellant, a senior citizen and retired civil servant through his RTI
application and appeal alleged lack of transparency in Gymkhana Club in
Udakamandalam (Ooty). Earlier, he was the Commandant of Defence Services of
the Staff, and also the President of the Club. The appellant said he 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
CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 1
g. Elected Member of Executive Board of Standing Conference of Public
Enterprise (SCOPE), who's Patron-in-Chief is the Prime Minister, since
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,
who's Patron-in-Chief was Mr. AbidHussain, 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. To his credit, he 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,
CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 2
there was ZERO man-hour loss due to Industrial Relation Problems in
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 PriyaDarshani Award for outstanding services,
achievements and contributions
f. Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award.
4. He 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 insisted 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. Instead of behaving like a public authority under RTI Act, 2005, the WGC is wrongfully claiming that it was not so, exercising power in arbitrary manner in allotting membership, not following seniority rule or any other 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 rejection of his application. He said: "Minimum courtesy and fairness demands to tell me if my application was rejected and I must be explained the reasons for rejected". He said, when requested for the status, one office-bearer said "Sorry sir, you know the system".
6. Shri AnandDarbari 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 play there. He also complained that the club is charging an exorbitant amount Rs. 7.5 lakh for membership.
7. The Commission's order dated 21.09.2017:
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 party 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 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.
CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 4
9. The case is posted on 17.10.2017 at 2:00PM.
Hearing on 17.10.2017
8. As per their websites Delhi
(https://www.delhigymkhana.org.in/affiliated_clubs/) and Ooty
(https://wellingtongymkhanaclub.co.in/club-affiliations), it appears that each club is mutually affiliated to other. The officers representing the respondent authority stated that no application fee of Rs. 7.5 lakh was received from this appellant. Wellington Gymkhana Club receives substantive finances from members' as membership fee. He also claimed that the 67 acre land where the club is located was granted by the British Government in the year 1923 for a period of 100 years and presently Rs. 220/- is being paid per year as rent. He claimed that because their club was given land by British Government, it cannot be considered as public authority under Right to Information Act. The said lease deed expires in the year 2023 and it was signed by four parties.
9. The fact that the club is enjoying the exclusive possession of thousands of rupees worth land of 67 acres in prime area of tourist destination city Udakamandalam for a paltry lease of Rs 220 per year, is enough to show that the Gymkhana Club Ooty is directly and substantially funded by Government and hence it has to be answerable and accountable for its activities. It is a public body and also public authority under section 2(h) of Right to Information Act. It is pathetic to note that this body does not know that they cannot claim any privilege because British Government transferred land and to plead that they are not amenable to the laws passed by post Independence Government of India. Does it mean that Gymkhana Club,Ooty, will be a-sovereign-independent-67- Acre nation separate from India and loyal only to British Government? They should not think that they are under tutelage of British Rule even now. As per Article 294 of Indian Constitution, the Independent Indian Government succeeds to all assets, rights, liabilities and obligations which were vested in British Rulers (His Majesty). Article 294 says:
294. Succession to property, assets, rights, liabilities and obligationsin certain cases from the commencement of this Constitution-
(a) all property and assets which immediately before such commencement were vested in His Majesty for the purposes of the Government of the Dominion of India and all property and assets which immediately before such commencement CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 5 were vested in His Majesty for the purposes of the Government of each Governors Province shall vest respectively in the Union and the corresponding State, and
(b) all rights, liabilities and obligations of the Government of the Dominion of India and of the Government of each Governors Province, whether arising out of any contract or otherwise, shall be the rights, liabilities and obligations respectively of the Government of India and the Government of each corresponding State, subject to any adjustment made or to be made by reason of the creation before the commencement of this Constitution of the Dominion of Pakistan or of the Provinces of West Bengal, West Punjab and East Punjab.
10. Article 295 deals with succession to property, assets, rights, liabilities and obligations in other cases (other than cases mentioned under Article 294) in a similar way vesting in Union or states as per the Constitution or according to agreements.
11. The contention of the representatives of Gymkhana Club appears to be almost anti-national or club is not conscious of the basic facts that they are paying lease amount of Rs 220 to Government (after Independence) and Government is having complete authority to cancel or continue the lease in 2023. As per the Article referred above, the Government is now the owner of the land leased out to Gymkhana Club. There is none to explain them that the Government is a continuous body, with a responsibility to honor all the agreements, if not properly rescinded. Either in 2023 or before that the Government has power to cancel the lease, including breach of law such as Right to Information Act. In such a case, the gymkhana club will struggle to exist. This is the test prescribed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, in Thallappallem Case, [2013(12) SCALE 527]. During the contentions, the representatives of WGC stated that they are collecting Rs. 7.5 lakh per membership. But their website does not indicate the charge anywhere. They have not officially disclosed any list of members nor is there any seniority list of applicants waiting for membership. There is an absolute lack of transparency relating to the policy, method, process and decision making in sanctioning membership, which is the crux of this second appeal. In the absence of disclosure of such information, the management of Club can assume arbitrary power to sell the membership at huge cost as per their whims and fancies. This means corruption. Any organization like Gymkhana Club is expected to act as a trust in good faith while dealing with public in general and managing the public money. The WGC has an ethical and legal duty CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 6 as a trustee to exercise its authority to grant membership in utmost fair manner. The Right to Information Act also insists on maximum disclosure of administration related information voluntarily. In spite of their undertaking to the Commission to provide necessary documents and the direction of the Commission based on such assurance, the management of WGC has not submitted any papers including a copy of lease deed. This established their anti- transparency attitude and also the merit in the contentions of the appellant, who felt harassed.
12. Thus the Commission declares that the Wellington Gymkhana Club,Ooty is the public authority under RTI Act, 2005 and directs WGC to designate officers as CPIO and First Appellate Authority, declare their names, addresses and contact numbers on website and also prominently display at notice board of the office, create an RTI wing, provide necessary infrastructural facilities, train the staff in RTI Act and practices to start giving information in a responsive and responsible manner. They are also required to comply with the obligation under Section 4 of Right to Information Act, by publishing the information of all categorizations as prescribed under Section 4(1)(b)(c) and (d) within 14 days, if not appellant or any other person can file complaint of non-compliance of mandate of Right to Information Act and in such event, the CPIO, and, if the CPIO is not designated, President or Secretary of the organization shall be liable to face the penal proceedings under Section 20 of RTI Act, 2005.
13. The Commission directs the respondent authority to provide certified copy of lease deed and all other information as directed on 21.09.2017 to the appellant, besides giving him reasons for rejection of his application for membership, with every other information sought by him, within 14 days from the date of receipt of this order, along with report of compliance of this order.
SD/-
(M.Sridhar Acharyulu) Central Information Commissioner Authenticated true copy (Dinesh Kumar) Deputy Registrar CIC/SH/A/2014/000684 Page 7 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 8