Mumbai: NSCI members issued notice over 'parallel' government

The NSCI club at Worli

A 'minutes mayhem' is unfolding at Worli's swish NSCI club, and this latest tumultuous chapter is rocking the member base. At least 16 members from the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Mumbai have received a Show Cause notice from the club dated March 18 charging them with sending out 'parallel' minutes of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the club.

The notice, which is signed by NSCI Hon. Secretary General Atul Maru, says that, "this is grave misconduct and intentionally tarnishing the reputation and procedural rules of the club. Your said act is not only disrespectful towards the Managing Committee of the Club …" it goes on to say that the act of sending the minutes, "without appropriate authority and prior to the approval of the Chairman (presiding over the AGM) by way of signature is a grave and serious conduct which is willful, deliberate and malafide…"

Parallel Government
Maru says, "We have served a show cause notice to a handful of people because you cannot have a 'parallel' govt. running in the club. I do not see what was the urgency in sending out these so called minutes of the AGM even before the official minutes are out? One cannot supersede the elected managing committee and circulate such information.

The United Front which is a group of club members opposing the current Management Committee known also as the 'Action Team' in NSCI says they had a duty to point out various discrepancies in the club.

Their 20-page 'minutes' of the Annual General Meeting conducted on February 21, begins with a disclaimer stating, "We, the members who were feel that the club management (Action Team) has not lived up to its promise of working with transparency and accountability and therefore we are compelled to record our minutes… it goes on to state that "we at no point of time claim that these minutes are sacrosanct or 100 per cent accurate. However as the Management (Action Team) had video recorded the entire proceedings with 2 cameras - one facing the Management and the other pointed at the members gathered, if the Management feels that our minutes fail to convey the factual position of any discussion, we would request them to please share a copy of the unedited recording of the entire meeting so that we may verify/cross check the true version of the proceeding and correct our records/stand to reflect the truth…'

The last paragraph of the disclaimer that runs into an entire page states that our intentions are extremely clean and noble and we harbour no malicious/mischievous/ vindictive/hostile intent towards the Management (Action Team) or towards our second home - The Club."

No answers?
The management scoffs 'not malicious claim' and Maru said that the action was a 'violation and they have not acted in the framework of the law."

One of the members who has been slapped with the show cause said, "we are not acting as a parallel Govt. We have made a disclosure in our disclaimer that this is not 100 per cent accurate."

The opposing United Front claimed in an email accompanying their 'minutes' that they had raised important and pertinent queries and for some queries, the Management (Action Team) offered replies, for some they had no replies and for some others, they sought time to send replies within a certain time period.

They were hesitant to show the various agreements / contracts that the Management (Action Team) has entered into with the 3rd Party managers / operators but due to the members' persistent demand, they had to relent and have promised inspection to members who may seek to view the same…"

The management stresses the action "is tantamount to playing mischief with an intentional and deliberate act attempted to mislead and cause injury to the members of the club" while the United Front, which also claims that the show cause notice is also aimed to "dent our unity and divide us," says that these 'minutes' are essential reading for those worried about the "financial state" of the club.