Managing in Spite of Managing Committees

Eastern Panorama, in its July issue had carried an article entitled ‘Of Diamonds and Clubs’ The Shillong Club Scandal. In the time that has passed, there have been some very interesting developments in this regard. For one, the Court has washed its hands of the mater and has left the matter to the decision of the members. It has vacated the petition for an injuncture filed by the Managing Committee of the Club against the holding of the Extra Ordinary General Meeting that was proposed by the displeased members. The Court has also ordered the Managing Committee to announce the date for the proposed EOGM within a period of 21 days from the date of the Court ruling. In yet another show of indifference to the wants and needs of the club members, the Managing Committee is yet to announce the dates of the EOGM even though the stipulated period of 21 days has passed.

As such, the members of the Club recently held a meeting whereby they addressed some very pertinent issues in this regard. Eastern Panorama was honoured to be invited to sit in on this meeting and thereby get details from the horse’s mouth.

One of the speakers at this meeting who was a part of the controversial EOGM that was held on the 20th of February 2008 made it clear to those gathered that the minutes of the said EOGM were deliberately manipulated to facilitate the building of a five star hotel within the Club premises on the

pretext that the land has to be developed in order to stop the government from repossessing it. Keeping this ulterior motive from the knowledge of the members, the Managing Committee had been granted permission to bring in proposals for developing the land, proposals which were subject to the approval of the members of the Club. Thus, the matter was laid to rest. However, the Managing Committee of the Club, making decisions which were well beyond their mandate, entered into negotiations with private developers and concluded an agreement in which they handed over an area of about two and a half  acres to the developers for the building of a five star hotel. After matters had developed to such an extent that members had sought for an EOGM so that the Managing Committee could clarify matters, the Managing Committee, in a surprising move, went directly to court to seek a stay order on the EOGM. This, the members are sure, is an indication of the Managing Committee having something to hide as the issues for which the EOGM was proposed definitely did not warrant a stay order. The members went so far as to say that the Managing Committee even threatened various members of expulsion from the Club for appealing for an EOGM. This, the members feel is behaviour unbecoming of the Managing Committee of the Club. 

It is also widely felt that the  Managing Committee is hell bent on holding on to power and that it will sink to any low to achieve this. The members of the Managing Committee are never in station and some fear that the primary reason for this is that the Managing Committee members are trying to garner the votes of the outstation members of the Club for the ensuing elections to the Managing Committee. Fears also abound of the Managing Committee delaying matters by approaching the Court once again. The fact that the Managing Committee is using the members’ own money (membership fees) to fight against them was also not well received by the members who are of the opinion that a way has to be thought of whereby the bank account of the Club will be frozen, barring the payment of employee salaries and day to day expenses. The members also question how the Managing Committee had taken the initiative to push this deal when the rules and regulations of the Club clearly state that all monetary matters which exceed an amount of Rs. 2500 have to get the approval of Club members before being passed. Another incident which recently came to light is that the Managing Committee has extended the contract with the individual who is in charge of running the lodging facilities of the Club. The new contract is for ten years and this has been agreed upon between the two parties without the floating of any tenders. Added to this is the fact that the contractor has also been nominated as a candidate for the upcoming elections to the Managing Committee. This the members found very irregular. It may be noted here that the present lodging facilities of the Club came into being as a means of generating revenue when one of the Club’s main sources of income suddenly vanished with the stopping of the races which were held at Polo Grounds at one period of time.