UNOFFICIAL& OFFICIAL DRAFT MINUTES OF THE SGM HELD ON JULY 27,2007

As the outgoing Managing committee of the Press Club, Mumbai has not listed included confirmation of draft minutes of the Special General Body Meeting ( SGM) held on July 27, 2007 in the agenda for the AGM sheduled on July 25, 2008 we are posting below an 'unofficial' version of the draft minutes circulated among the members on August 28, 2007 and an 'official' version as well, that was released
later. The members , attending the AGM on July 25, 2008 may compare both the version to find out the truth.


Unofficial draft minutes of the SGM of The Press Club, Mumbai, held at its Conference room on July 27, 2007

At the stroke of 1.30 pm , the scheduled time for the start of the Special General Body Meeting (SGM) on July 27, 2007 – President Pradeep Vijayakar stood up and adjourned the meeting for half an hour on the ground that there was no quorum.
During the intervening period, senior member M J Pandey wanted to know from the chair under what rule the latter had adjourned the SGM for half an hour. Pandey went on to add that while there was a provision under the Club’s constitution to adjourn a requisitioned SGM, there was no provision under the constitution to an SGM called by the Managing Committee (MC).

Mr Vijayakar contended that even though he was not obliged to answer the query raised by Mr Pandey given that he had already adjourned the SGM and the meeting was on at that moment. The President, however, pointed out that he had adjourned the SGM under Article 33 of the Club’s constitution.

However, Mr Pandey contested the chair’s explanation saying that Article related to adjournment with regard to the SGMs called on requisition and it did not deal with SGMs called by the MC. The President, however, sought to clarify the query raised by Mr Pandey by saying that the said Article had also not barred the chair from adjourning the meeting for lack of quorum.

Member C P Jha wondered as to how the chair had adjourned the SGM suo moto, when the accepted practice in any democratic house is that it is prerogative of the floor (ordinary members) to point out lack of quoram to the chair, if there was, and presidium was not supposed to take cognizance of lack of quorum on it’s own. Mr Jha, however, said he shall abide by ruling of the President on the issue.

Mr Jha subsequently requested the chair that he be allowed to read out his letter dated July 23, 2007, duly submitted to the President, challenging constitutional validity of convening of the SGM on the very same day of the AGM, and the SGM agenda.
Referring to a few of the objections raised by Mr Jha, the President ruled that there was nothing wrong in holding the SGM and the AGM on the same day and the Press Club had a precedent way back in 1997, when both SGM and AGM were held on the same day.

Mr Jha sought the Chair’s permission to read out his letter dated July 23,2007 for the benefit of all other members and said there were several other constitutional improprieties in the notice issued to hold the SGM. After being allowed to do so by the Chair, Mr Jha said the notice calling for the SGM was not valid as it had been signed by Mr Gurbir Singh in the capacity of Hon. Secretary – a post that is not provided for in the Constitution of the Club. The prefix `honorary' was deleted from the post of secretary in the new constitution of the Club, which came into effect from June 30, 2006. The rationale behind the deletion of the prefix `honorary' was that all the posts in the managing committee of the club were honorary and there was no specific need to add this prefix to only the post of the Secretary.

Pointing out serious legal flaws in the said notice he said it states that "….the Managing Committee of the Club, in exercise of its powers under Article 31 of the Club's Bye-Laws and Rules and Regulations, has decided to call a Special General Meeting of ordinary members on Friday, July 27, 2007 at 1.30 PM at the Press Club Conference Hall to consider the following agenda".

He said there is nothing like "Special General Meeting of ordinary members" and it should be referred to as "a Special Body Meeting of the Club".
He also wanted to know the urgency behind convening an SGM on a day where there is already an AGM and why the MC kept aside mere one hour for the SGM , that in effect was reduced to just half an hour following the adjournment, to discuss issues, which are of paramount importance and that have a bearing on the long-term interests of the Club.

Pointing out that the first item on the July 27, 2007 SGM agenda was "to consider and pass the Minutes of the Special General Meeting held on June 30, 2006", Mr Jha said it was decided in the June 30, 2006 SGM that the Constitution adopted at that meeting would be implemented "with immediate effect and that the minutes of the SGM would only be read and taken as passed at the following SGM”.

"Now, I would like to know as to why the MC is seeking 'consideration and passing' of the June 30, 2007 minutes and that too after a gap of more than one year when the elections have already taken place under the new constitution,” Mr Jha said and asked, " are we going to undo the election held under the new constitution if we take the position that minutes of the constitution making exercise are yet to be confirmed .

He also asked a ruling on whether any one had a right to confirm the minutes of the last SGM in which he or she was not present. There were very few members present in the SGM of June 30,2006 when the current constitution was adopted after voting by hands.

He also said that as per the norm, the SGM was held to consider one specific subject. But the purpose of the SGM of July 27,2007 not only violated this norm but was ridiculous and the MC deserved to be censured, since apart from the issue of minutes of deliberations of adoption of the new constitution in the SGM of June 2006, the agenda of the proposed SGM also included several items to bring out amendment in the same constitution.

How can we 'pass' the current constitution and change it too in one go?, Mr Jha asked, adding that the constitutional impropriety in calling this SGM might land us in trouble in any court of law. He said even as he had no intention to move to the court on this count, collective wisdom of the members should be utilized to initiate remedial measures.

After being asked by the President to reply to Mr Jha's objections, the Secretary claimed in the last SGM, that adopted the new constitution, no resolution was passed to delete the prefix `Honorary’ from the post of the Secretary. He did not reply at all to any of the other points raised by Mr Jha.

At a later stage, former chairman and member-secretary of the Constitutional Review Committee Mr T N Raghunatha explained that the prefix “Honorary” came to be deleted as part of the exercise to amend the Article 13(a),(b) and (c), after an elaborate discussion at the SGM held on June 30,2006. Apart from deleting prefix “honorary” to the post of Secretary, the amendments thus made to Article 13 brought about radical changes about the election process, tenure of the elected office bearers and members and imposed a restriction that the President and five other office bearers were not entitled to hold the same post for two consecutive terms. The 2006 elections were held as per the amended constitution of the Club.

Several senior members, including Mr G Vishwanath , Mr Pandey, Mr Raghunatha, Mr Ramaswamy Ommen Ninan and Sai Prasan, strongly contested the MC’s move to hold both SGM and AGM on the same day.

Taking serious exception to the chair’s contention that there was nothing wrong in holding both the meetings on the day and his citing a 1997 precedent when the club had held both SGM and AGM on the day, Mr Vishwanath said that just because there was a precedent in the Club, it did not mean that the club could commit a mistake once again. The club in the first place should not have held SGM and AGM on the same day in the past, as it amounted to impropriety.

Mr Vishwanath recalled that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was faced with a similar situation some years ago. On its part, BCCI went by the book and chose not hold AGM and SGM on the same day. Considering that it was governed by the Societies Registration Act 1860, the Club could not do anything that violated the rules stipulated there in.

Members, including Pandey and Ramaswamy, also objected to the MC scheduling AGM – besides clubbing it with SGM – on a Friday instead of a Saturday during a non-election year. Work-wise, Saturday would have been a lean day, they said. Some members also alluded to the market crash on that day and said that the MC should have been prudent enough to bear in mind the interests of the professional journalists.

Alluding to the fact that SGM had been called to pass amendments and a resolution facilitating the MC to obtain a bank loan to the tune of Rs 50 lakh for club redevelopment purpose, Mr Ninan said that the FD's were the only cash reserves left with the club and mortgaging them to obtain loan would land the club in major problems in the years to come. Even as Mr Ninan was elaborating on his views, the President – apparently prompted by the Secretary seated next to him -- objected to certain made by the former and warned that the chair might debar him from taking part in the deliberations, if the former persisted in a similar manner. Mr Ninan, however, struck to his points and said the current elected body was not running the club democratically and it was making all-out efforts to choke the dissenting voices.
Mr Prasan wanted to know as to why the draft minutes of the last SGM were not circulated among the members within 90 days as per the norm, and why the members were not taken into confidence before the club building was demolished for undertaking the re-development work.

Suggesting an amendment in the draft minutes of the SGM held on June 30,2006, Mr Raghunatha called for incorporation of a major change made in the Article 13 of the Constitution that prohibited the President and five other office bearers from holding the same post for two consecutive terms, in the said minutes.

Meanwhile, at around 2.30 pm, the scheduled time for the start of the AGM that was to follow the SGM, the President announced that the AGM 'stands' adjourned and it shall now commence after half an hour of completion of the 'ongoing' SGM. Many members wondered as to how the President could “adjourn” the AGM when it had not even begun yet and that too in the midst of `ongoing’ SGM.

The chair’s sudden announcement to “adjourn” the AGM caused considerable confusion among the members present. Several members simultaneously sought clarifications from the chair in this regard. In the din that followed, not much was heard. However, on his part, the President made no effort – even after the din subsided – to clarify as to how he could “adjourn” an AGM when it was not in session and that too in midst of an ongoing SGM. This was despite serious objections taken by members to the chair “adjourning” AGM.

Subsequently, Mr Pandey wanted to know under what statue that the Press Club, Mumbai, had been registered – whether the Societies Registration Act or the Public Trusts Act, whether the amendments adopted in the Club’s constitution on June 30,2006 had been formally brought to the notice of the authorities concerned and whether the Secretary would take upon himself to say that legal provisions had been followed while convening both SGM and AGM on the same day.

The Secretary said that the Club had been registered under the Societies Registration Act and effort made in 1990s to register under the Public Trusts Act did not fructify and that he said that the club had not committed anything wrong by convening both SGM and AGM on the same day.

The Secretary was, however, evasive on whether the Club had formally brought to the notice of the authorities concerned the amendments carried out in the Club’s constitution on June 30,2006 and obtained a certified copy of the amended constitution.

Refusing to read out the draft minutes of the last SGM, the Secretary said that they be treated as read. While he agreed to carry out the amendments suggested by the members, the Secretary put to vote the said draft minutes and it was taken as passed by voice vote.

With the first item on the SGM i.e., passing the minutes of the SGM held on June 30,2006 over, the SGM moved to the next item on the agenda. Instead of sticking to the issues listed under item two of the SGM agenda, the Secretary chose to hit out at some forces “who were out to create road blocks for the club undertaking the club re-development work”. Without naming the forces/people behind the said blocking exercise, the Secretary charged that some people had written letters to the bankers requesting them against granting loans to the club. He went on to add:

"They even bribed a clerk of Mumbai Collector office to obtain a stop-work order , We had to run from pillar to post to obtain NOC's and counter as many as three RTI case", the Secretary claimed and expressed confidence that that re-developed club would be thrown open to members by Diwali this year.

Seeking to justify the need to bring about amendments in the Constitution and a sanction to pledge the Club’s Fixed Deposits (FDs) worth Rs 21.09 lakh, the Secretary said that the MC was seeking just a ' line of Credit ' to the tune of Rs 50 lakh from the bank against the FDs. He went on to explain that the club had already made provision for the expenditure that goes into the civil work involved in the redevelopment of the club and the money that was being borrowed was for interior works.

On a specific query from Mr Vishwanath and other members, the Treasurer clarified that so far no sponsorship had been received to fund the reconstruction works.
Meanwhile, veteran member and the club’s immediate past President Madhu Sathye intervened. Mr Shetye delivered a long speech, in which he resorted to emotional outburst by saying that he was recouping from s second surgery and he requested the members to support the amendments/resolution brought forth by the club’s MC so that the club was constructed in his life-time.

Senior member Suresh Nandi, who had earlier requested Mr Sathye to be precise and restrict himself to issues on the agenda, sought to know from the MC as to why 'financial closure' was not accomplished – which is a must as per established norms of any project and in the current case-- before demolishing major portion of the club building for its reconstruction. He said the Secretary Gurbir Singh being a knowledgeable business journalist should have kept this mind, while going in for reconstruction work of the club without readying the funds required for the project. He said that seeking sanction for raising funds through a bank loan at this late stage –when options are minimal – was avoidable.

Some other senior members, including Indra Kumar Jain, who is nominee of the Bombay Union Journalists (BUJ) in the MC of the Club, spoke against the haste with which the MC had chosen to demolish a major portion of the Club without being ready with necessary funds to undertake re-construction work. He, however, opined that some way had to be found to bail the club out of the mess it had landed itself in.
Mr Pandey wanted to know from the Secretary about the written agreement between the BUJ and the Club over sharing the Government leased land on which the Club stands. The Secretary affirmed that there was indeed such an agreement and the Club shall abide by it.

Mr Pandey then asked the Secretary the reason behind taking a loan at a much higher interest than the one being accrued on the FDs of the Club. He also wanted to know whether the issue had indeed been discussed by the MC, and if not, shall the Secretary put it in the minutes of the SGM being recorded by the treasurer that as the Secretary of the MC he had satisfied himself to agree to the suggestion given by the Chartered Accountant that the Club should take loan/ line of credit from the bank by amending relevant portion in the Constitution.

Amid big applause in the house, Mr. Pandey said this showed that the MC was 'inept' to tackle the situation and suggested that before deciding to take loan the club should exhaust all its options, including, judicious use of it's FDs in batches of Rs 5 lakh each. He sought to bring an amendment to the proposed amendments/resolution to the effect that the Club would first make use of the funds available to it by way of FDs, before going for a loan to be procured at a higher rate of interest.

Earlier, when the Secretary was seen raising 'point of order' during Mr Pandey's contention, Mr Jha asked a ruling from the Chair as to how the Secretary could raise or be allowed to raise a Point of Order. Mr President chose not to give any ruling on that and instead asked Mr Pandey not to 'pass strictures' against the MC by calling it inept. Mr Pandey, however, said it was his opinion and not a stricture.
After the Secretary said the MC would consider Mr. Pandey's suggestion, the President, did not allow Mr Pandey to press for his amendment. The President ruled that he had only one option and that was to put to vote the constitutional amendment and resolutions included in the agenda of the SGM.

At this stage, Mr Jha pressed for division of votes and sought a ruling from the Chair as to how would put the amendments to vote and how the votes are to be counted.

In his intervention, the Secretary remarked to Mr Jha: "You are threatening the President ". Mr Jha simply asked the President , " Mr President , am I threatening you". The President replied: "No". In his clarification, the Secretary remarked:" I meant you were approaching the President threateningly".

The President, meanwhile, asked the Secretary to out the constitution amendments to vote and directed the members to raise their hands in support of it. Then he asked those members to raise their hands who were against it.

However, even before votes against the motion could be counted, the treasurer shouted that the motion stood passed The Club manager, however , counted the hands both for and against the motion and apparently told the outcome only to the President. Even as it was claimed by the treasurer that 46 members had supported the motion and only 19 were against it, the President did not clarify the outcome.
Similarly, in voting for the resolutions contained in the agenda of the SGM, the President asked the members opposed to it to remain in the left side and those supporting it to go to right side facing the dais.

Mr Madhu Sethye , who was sitting on the first row of chairs on the left side along with Mr Jha and Mr Prasan , was seen being taken to the right side by Secretary Gurbir Singh.

At a suggestion by some members, the President asked the associate members present in the room not to vote. At least one associate member present in the House complied with the request.

However, no effort was taken to stop some 'non-bona fide' members to take part in the voting. Among those who belonged to this category was Mr. Gautam Chakraborty of the Adfactors PR who has ceased to be a journalist since May 2006.

The outcome of the voting this time was stated by the treasurer to be 50 for and 21 or 22 against the resolutions. As all of us know that under Article 40 of the Club’s constitution, any constitutional amendment can be adopted only with support of two-third majority of the members present.

On his part, the President chose not to clarify officially whether the motion amending constitutional amendments were adopted or not.

(In a lacuna of sorts, Mr Jaishankara of PTI was seen to be signing on the SGM attendance register at the Club main gate, after the actual completion of the meeting. He had signed at serial number 78. When Mr Jha asked him how could he vote without signing the quorum register, he casually said: "I could not sign earlier as the register had been taken inside")

....................AND NOW YOU MAY READ THE OFFICIAL VERSION

The special general meeting of the Press Club was held on July 27, 2007 at 1.30 pm in the Conference Room.

President Pradeep Vijaykar called the meeting to order at 1.30 pm. Since there was no quorum, the meeting was adjourned for half an hour. The meeting subsequently began at 2 pm sharp.

Listed agenda for the meeting was:

(a) To consider and pass the Minutes of the Special General Meeting held on June 30, ’06.
(b) To consider and approve if found fit the following special business listed below

1. Add a fresh clause – Article 37 (k) – to the Bye laws of The Press Club, Mumbai:

If circumstances demand, loans can be raised for specific development work being undertaken by the Club, provided that loans exceeding Rs 5 lakh should be approved by the General Body.”

2. Amend Article 37 (f) to read as follows:

In regard to fixed deposit accounts, cash certificates and other long-term negotiable instruments with banks, the Managing Committee will ensure through instructions to the banks, that except in the case of renewing maturing fixed deposits, the authorized signatories as provided in the sub-clause (e) above are not allowed to operate by way of termination, withdrawal, pledge, lien, or otherwise in any manner whatsoever secure loans against them or offer the same as collateral for any purpose, except on the strength of a specific resolution passed by the Managing Committee for loans up to Rs 5 lakh, and by the General Body in case the security is for loans exceeding Rs 5 lakhs.”

3. Amend Clause 3 in Annexure-2 – Guidelines for Development / Refurbishment of the Press Club by replacing the figure ‘Rs one lakh’ with ‘Rs five lakh’. The amended clause will thus read:

“As per the Constitution of the Press Club, the General Body has the right to approve the cost-expenditure estimate of any major development work exceeding Rs five lakh undertaken at the Press Club….”

4. To consider and pass the following resolution: “This General Body empowers the Managing Committee to negotiate and secure a line of credit/loan not exceeding Rs 50 lakh for the current rebuilding and refurbishment project of the Press Club.”

5. To consider and pass the following resolution: “This General Body grants leave / authority to offer the Fixed Deposit Certificates (FDCs) totaling Rs. 21,09,572.00 held by the Press Club in various scheduled banks as collateral/security for raising a loan not exceeding Rs 50 lakh for the current rebuilding and refurbishment project of the Press Club.”

C P Jha sought the Chair’s permission to raise few issues before the beginning of the meeting. With permission granted, he said that today’s SGM was not valid, as it had been signed by the Hon. Secretary – a post that is not provided for in the Constitution of the Club. He said he had pointed out the mistake in the notice sent which said that the special general body meeting of the ordinary members and had suggested it be amended to read: the special general body meeting of the Press Club. While pointing out that the first item on the July 27, 2007 SGM agenda was "to consider and pass the Minutes of the Special General Meeting held on June 30, 2006", Jha said it was decided in the June 30, 2006 SGM that the Constitution adopted at that meeting would be implemented "with immediate effect and that the minutes of the SGM would only be read and taken as passed at the following SGM”.

He also asked for a ruling on whether any one had a right to confirm the minutes of the last SGM in which he or she was not present. There were very few members present in the SGM of June 30, 2006 when the current constitution was adopted after a show of hands.

He said the SGM was being held to consider only one specific subject but the purpose of the SGM of July 27, 2007 not only violated this norm, but was ridiculous and the MC deserved to be censured. Apart from the minutes that recorded the deliberations prior to the adoption of the new Bye-laws in the SGM of June 2006, the agenda of the proposed SGM also included several items to amend the same Bye-laws, he said.

Vishwanth said the calling a Special General Meeting (SGM) and Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the same day violated precedent as well as established law on the subject. Referring to objections raised by Vishwanath, the President ruled that there was nothing wrong in holding the SGM and the AGM on the same day and he cited a precedent of 1997 when both an SGM and AGM were held on the same day.

After being asked by the President to reply to Jha's objections, Secretary Gurbir said in the last SGM that adopted the new constitution, no resolution was passed to delete the prefix `Honorary’ from the post of the Secretary. T N Raghunatha explained that the prefix “Honorary” came to be deleted as part of the exercise to amend the Article 13(a),(b) and (c), but Gurbir reading out the revised provisions that were circulated said that ‘Honorary’ was never dropped from the Bye-laws.

Taking serious exception to the chair’s contention that there was nothing wrong in holding both the meetings on the day, Vishwanath said that just because there was a precedent, it did not mean that the club could commit a mistake once again. Vishwanath recalled that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was faced with a similar situation some years ago, and BCCI went by the book and chose not to hold the AGM and SGM on the same day. Vishwanath said the Societies Registration Act, 1860 had provisions to this effect.

M J Pandey said that if we are serious about the general body meetings, then meetings should be called only on Saturdays. Work-wise, Saturday would have been a lean day, he said. He wanted to see the minutes of the Managing Committee meeting in which the decision was taken to call the special general body meeting to amend the constitution. Thereafter, Treasurer Rajesh showed the minutes book of the managing committee meeting that recorded the decision to call an SGM to amend the Constitution.

Ramaswamy also objected to the MC scheduling AGM – besides clubbing it with SGM – on a Friday instead of a Saturday during a non-election year. Sai Prasan wanted to know as to why the draft minutes of the last SGM were not circulated within 90 days as per the norm, and why the members were not taken into confidence before the club building was demolished for undertaking the re-development work.

T N Raghunatha said that the managing committee has given only one hour to discuss the important issues, which involve the amendments in the constitution. He wanted to know why the MC kept aside mere one hour for the SGM . This in effect was reduced to just half an hour following the adjournment, to discuss issues which are of paramount importance and that have a bearing on the long-term interests of the Club.

On replying the above queries, Secretary Gurbir Singh said that Managing Committee has followed all the rules and regulations in calling the SGM and AGM, A notice has been given 7 days advance for the SGM. However he agreed that the minutes of the previous special general body meetings were not circulated on time, but he assured that this would not happen in future. He said that as per the Bye-laws, an AGM can be held only on Friday’s. On the clubbing of the SGM and AGM on the same day, he said a number of journalists had objected to the calling of several general body meetings in a year ‘as a waste of time’. Holding several and separate General Body meetings was a huge administrative exercise as well as an expense. Sending of notices and invitations cost the club around Rs 20,000 for every general body meeting, he said. Hence to save time and administrative effort the AGM and SGM were being held together. He also pointed out that the Club was not bound by the decisions of the BCCI, and the Society Act, 1960 did not specifically bar the Club from holding an SGM and an AGM on the same day.

He further pointed out that though previous SGMs and AGMs had approved the Redevelopment Plan of the Press Club and had also sanctioned the budget of Rs one crore for the purpose, the Club Auditor as well as the Club’s Bank – the Bank of Baroda – had pointed out that the Press Club’s Bye-laws did not create the necessary provisions to borrow and seek bank loans, and nor did the bye-laws allow pledging the FDRs in the Club’s possession as collateral for these loans. The Auditor had thus recommended that the Bye-laws be amended and hence the necessity for calling this Special General Meeting.

M J Pandey wanted to know under what statue that the Press Club, Mumbai, had been registered – whether the Societies Registration Act or the Public Trusts Act. Vishwanath wanted to know whether the amendments adopted in the Club’s constitution on June 30, 2006 had been formally brought to the notice of the authorities concerned and whether the Secretary would take upon himself to say that legal provisions had been followed while convening both SGM and AGM on the same day.

The Secretary said that the Club had been registered under the Societies Act, and this had been pointed out in earlier AGMs as well. He said that earlier in 1997-98 efforts had been made to register under the Public Trusts Act as a ‘Charitable Body’ but these were rejected by the authorities. He said all necessary legal provisions had been followed in calling the SGM and AGM on the same day.

YOU MAY ALSO READ FINAL MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON JUNE 30, 2006

Suggesting an amendment in the draft minutes of the SGM held on June 30, 2006, Raghunatha called for incorporation of a change made in the Article 13 of the Constitution that prohibited the President and five other office bearers from holding the same post for two consecutive terms, in the said minutes.

Oommen Ninan raised a point of information and said that in last meeting he had raised certain issues relating to the development work, which had not been included in the minutes. Ninan tried to read out a letter which large section of members raised objections against him for raising and reopening issues that had already been discussed and decided upon in the previous SGM. Secretary Gurbir Singh raised objection to Ninan raising the development issue at this SGM, as the issue was discussed and settled at May 13, 2006 SGM. He said this SGM meeting had been specially convened to adopt proposed Constitutional amendments.

Vishwanath insisted those minutes of the previous special general body meeting to be read. M J Pandey said if the minutes are circulated well in advance there is no need to read and waste the time and they can be treated as read. While Secretary Gurbir agreed to carry out the amendments suggested by the members, the President put the said draft minutes to vote. These were passed with a show of hands.

MAIN BUSINESS

Secretary Gurbir explained the past history of the club refurbishment plan. He said it was a long drawn battle of two years to seek necessary building permissions. After persistent efforts and several meetings with the CM, Deputy CM and the Municipal Commissioner, the municipal permissions had been granted. Clearance had also been got as required from the City Collector, the Government Architect and the PWD Department. There was further delay of nearly 4 months as the Heritage Committee clearance was held up, and it had insisted on certain changes in the plan. He said it is untrue that members had not been taken into confidence. He said three general bodies had debated the subject of the Club’s refurbishment, the plans had been displayed and circulated for comment, and the Club’s Development Council had also been presented the plans for suggestions.

He said the current work was divided into two phases. Phase I included the Civil work that was expected to cost Rs 40-45 lakh and would be funded entirely by the Club’s internal accruals of Rs 20-25 lakh, while Rs 25 lakh had been committed from the CM’s Relief Fund. Rs 10 lakh from this fund had so far been released. As per the Development Guidelines in the Bye-Laws, the first phase of the project was opened for bidding in February, and the lowest tender of Himani Enterprises was chosen. The demolition work was started at the beginning of March. However, clearing the site and removing the rubble took longer than expected as the soil was sandy and there was no available storage area for the demolished rubble. Yet, the work had progressed apace and it was expected that by Diwali the first phase would be entirely over and the second phase would be under way.

The secretary further stated that a lot of time and energy had been wasted in countering attempts to sabotage and stop the construction work. He said an ex-member and some forces opposed to the development work had filed as many as 6 Right To Information (RTIs) petitions. Other road blocks created for the club included some persons writing to the Bank of Baroda not to extend any loans to the Club. A junior clerk in the Collector’s Office was influenced to issue a Stop Work Notice and this was publicized by sending a Press Release to newspapers, the secretary said. Finally, when the Collector’s office carried out a site survey, the allegations were proved wrong and the ‘Stop Work’ Notice was withdrawn.

Ramaswamy objected to the Secretary’s presentation and said that managing committee has done nothing great and it’s the committee’s duty to do this development work. Oommen Ninan wanted to know how much sponsorship had been received to fund the reconstruction work. Treasurer Rajesh Mascarenhas said that so far the managing committee has not started raising funds as it was tied down with issues of permission, RTIs and so on. Once the SGM and AGM’s were over, the committee will start raising the funds.

Meanwhile, founder member and the club’s past President Madhu Sathye, complimenting the work done by the current managing committee, requested the members to support the amendments/resolution brought forth by the club’s MC so that the club could be reconstructed in his life-time. He also said that in the past many committees tried to construct a building but were not successful due to the infighting among the members. He said that this committee has been successful in implementing the refurbishment plan, in spite of the tremendous pressure from some sections to stop the work.

Vishwanath said that six years ago when he was the Chairman, he tried to build a new structure with Mumbai’s leading architect Hafees Contractor’s design. However it was not operational as some members blocked the idea. He suggested the managing committee to involve more members in debate in the special general meetings. He also said that any changes in constitution should be thoroughly discussed and debated before passing it. Hence he suggested that the amendments be circulated among members once again for their opinion.

Oommen Ninan again tried to read out a letter, however a majority of the members objected as it has no relevance to the current SGM. Pandey suggested Ninan to summarize his letter instead of reading out voluminous history. Oommen pointed out that there is no master plan in place and his objections to the architect Kunal Khandelwals estimates have not found any place in the minutes. He said that the FDRs were the only assets the club and mortgaging them to obtain a loan would land the club in major problems in the years to come. He complimented the club manager Ahmed Koya for maintaining and renewing the FDRs in the proper manner. He wanted to know the break up of the expenditure and the amount raised by the MC. He also accused the Secretary of being a ‘liar’, and this prompted President to warn Ninan that the chair might debar him from taking part in the deliberations if Ninan persisted in making personal allegations.

Jayant Mayankar objected to Oommen saying that the Manager is responsible for renewing FDs and that he was just doing his duty as a paid employee.

Suresh Nandi sought to know to why 'financial closure' was not accomplished before demolishing the building and starting construction work was. He said this is an established norm of any project. The Secretary Gurbir being a business journalist should have kept this in mind before launching reconstruction of the club. He said that seeking sanction for raising funds through a bank loan at this stage –when options are minimal – was avoidable.

Secretary Gurbir said the work had been delayed by nearly two years, and given the multiplicity of issues, it had to be started sometime. In any case, the work was only started on Phase I which was fully provided for. Further, Bank of Baroda too had indicated it would provide the funds for Phase II if the necessary changes were adopted in the Bye-laws. Replying to queries that the interest rate would be too burdensome, he said the amendments would allow the club to offer security of Fixed Deposits (FDs) worth Rs 21.09 lakh to seek a 'line of Credit ' to the tune of Rs 50 lakh. This would give us the cushion and security that work would not stop. At the same time if we managed to raise the sponsorships from corporates, we may not have to draw the entire loan sanctioned. He said the borrowing was only for the Interiors or Phase II of the work that would cost Rs 50-55 lakh.

Ramaswamy wanted to know the interest rates and the burden on club. Nandkishore Bhartiya wanted to know on what surety Bank agreed to give loan. Secretary Gurbir said that since the club was on leased land, the Bank was not insisting on land as collateral and it had said the FDR’s and the current cash flows would serve as adequate security.

Pandey asked the Secretary the reason behind taking a loan at a much higher interest than the one being accrued on the FDs of the Club. He said, this showed that the MC was 'inept' to tackle the situation and suggested that before deciding to take loan the club should exhaust all its options, including, judicious use of it's FDs in batches of Rs 5 lakh each. He sought to bring an amendment to the proposed amendments/resolution to the effect that the Club would first make use of the funds available to it by way of FDs, before going for a loan to be procured at a higher rate of interest.

Mayankar suggested bringing the sponsorship instead of going for the loan.

Siddarth Arya, in his support to Pandey’s view, said that interest rates were going north and tomorrow the club may not have the money to pay even the staff salary if we take a loan at the current interest rate. He said loan should be the last option, and the house should first consider breaking the FDRs.

Oommen Ninan, Ramaswamy and IK Jain supported Pandey’s view and insisted on amending the proposed amendment to the Bye-laws in the agenda. Treasurer Rajesh objected to the double standard of Oommen Ninan who had earlier opposed pledging the FDRs on the plea that they are the only assets of the club and mortgaging them to obtain loans would land the club in trouble. Rajesh said Oommen’s only interest was to stop the development work.

The Secretary further pointed out that the Special General Meeting could either accept or reject the proposed amendments and there was no scope for amending the proposed amendments, as they would have to be circulated atleast a week in advance of being brought to vote. He appealed to the members to support the Managing Committee resolutions and the amendments to the Bye-laws to ensure that the Club had enough funds to complete the Building Work. To be side-tracked at this stage would bring the on-going work to a grinding halt, he feared. He suggested that the MC would consider Pandey's suggestion about judicious use of the FD funds but cautioned that would also necessitate another SGM for the purpose.

In view of the constitutional provisions, the President, did not allow Pandey to press his amendment. He ruled that he had only one option and that was to put to vote the proposed amendments and resolutions that had been circulated in advance as part of the agenda of the SGM.

At this stage some members including C P Jha advanced towards the President’s chair and dared him to put the amendments to vote without enough discussion. Secretary Gurbir intervened and asked Jha not to threaten the President and to go back to his seat. C P Jha denied he was threatening the President.

The President, meanwhile, asked the Secretary to read out the constitution amendments before the house voted on them.

The Secretary accordingly read out the amendments and they were put to vote in two batches. The first set of amendments read out were:

1. Add a fresh clause – Article 37 (k) – to the Bye laws of The Press Club, Mumbai:

“If circumstances demand, loans can be raised for specific development work being undertaken by the Club, provided that loans exceeding Rs 5 lakh should be approved by the General Body.”


2. Amend Article 37 (f) to read as follows:

“In regard to fixed deposit accounts, cash certificates and other long-term negotiable instruments with banks, the Managing Committee will ensure through instructions to the banks, that except in the case of renewing maturing fixed deposits, the authorized signatories as provided in the sub-clause (e) above are not allowed to operate by way of termination, withdrawal, pledge, lien, or otherwise in any manner whatsoever secure loans against them or offer the same as collateral for any purpose, except on the strength of a specific resolution passed by the Managing Committee for loans up to Rs 5 lakh, and by the General Body in case the security is for loans exceeding Rs 5 lakhs.”

The President asked members first to raise their hands in support of it and then those who opposed it. He also requested the associate members present in the room not to vote. After a count of the hands raised ‘for’ and ‘against’ the amendments, it emerged that 46 members supported the amendments while 21 members opposed the amendments.

The President Pradeep Vijayker announced that the above two amendments had been passed by two-thirds majority and hence would be adopted as part of the Bye-Laws of the Club.

Subsequently President asked the Secretary to read out the other amendments and resolutions, which Secretary Gurbir did as follows:

3. Amend Clause 3 in Annexure-2 – Guidelines for Development / Refurbishment of the Press Club by replacing the figure ‘Rs one lakh’ with ‘Rs five lakh’. The amended clause will thus read:
“As per the Constitution of the Press Club, the General Body has the right to approve the cost-expenditure estimate of any major development work exceeding Rs five lakh undertaken at the Press Club….”

4. Resolved that “This General Body empowers the Managing Committee to negotiate and secure a line of credit/loan not exceeding Rs 50 lakh for the current rebuilding and refurbishment project of the Press Club.”

5. Resolved that “This General Body grants leave / authority to offer the Fixed Deposit Certificates (FDRs) totaling Rs. 21,09,572.00 held by the Press Club in various scheduled banks as collateral/security for raising a loan not exceeding Rs 50 lakh for the current rebuilding and refurbishment project of the Press Club.”

In voting for the above amendment and resolutions, the President asked the members opposed to it to remain in the left side and those supporting it to go to right side facing the dais.

The outcome of the voting this time was: 50 members supported the amendment and two resolutions, while 20 members voted against. The President announced that the amendment and the two resolutions were passed by two-third majority and were taken as ‘adopted’.

The SGM ended at 3.30 pm, after proposing a vote of thanks to the chair.

Serious lapses in the Club 2008 AGM & Election Notice

Where are the July 27, 2007 SGM draft minutes, probe report on Gurbir-Rennie incident and internal auditor’s report, Mr “Hon.” Secretary?


Any explanation from you, the Internal Auditor Mr G. Vishwanath?

Less than 24 hours after we questioned (July 7, 2008) the outgoing Managing Committee (MC) of the Press Club, Mumbai as to why it had delayed markedly in making an announcement about the 2008 Club poll schedule, an apparently chastened Mr Gurbir Singh circulated among the members:

a) a notice for the AGM scheduled for July 25, 2008 (Friday) at 2.00 pm
b) the schedule for elections slated for July 26, 2008 and other details and
c) Annual report, balance sheet etc.

Mr Gurbir Singh has precisely proved the point we made in the said blog post that “despite having finalised the schedule for its first biennial polls at its meeting held on June 27, 2008”, the outgoing (MC) had been deliberately sitting over it since then. (Reason: the AGM notice out by the MC is dated June 27, 2008. Among other things, the notice talks about the club elections, slated for July 26, 2008 and it also states that the election schedule has been attached along with the notice).

Not surprisingly though, the MC has chosen to keep mum on why it delayed in announcing the 2008 election schedule. Nor has it answered any of the queries raised by us.

While we are not going into the issues relating to the balance sheet and contents of the annual report at this juncture, we would like to share with you some of the glaring errors committed by the MC in the notice for the AGM scheduled for July 25, 2008 and also its failure to share with members an important document it ought to have, along with the annual balance sheet. Here are some of the lacunae noticed by us in the AGM notice and other material sent along with it.

1) Shockingly enough, the MC has failed to incorporate in the agenda for the July 25, 2008 the issue of reading the minutes of the crucial Special General Meeting (SGM) held on July 27,2007, in which crucial amendments to Article 37 of the Bye-laws of The Press Club, Mumbai were made and the clause 3 in Annexure-2 of the Bye-laws – Guidelines for Development / Refurbishment of the Press Club – was amended. At the same SGM, two crucial resolutions --- the one empowering the MC “to negotiate and secure a line of credit/loan not exceeding Rs 50 lakh for the current rebuilding and refurbishment project of the Press Club” and another granting “leave / authority to offer the Fixed Deposit Certificates (FDCs) totaling Rs. 21,09,572.00 held by the Press Club in various scheduled banks as collateral/security for raising a loan not exceeding Rs 50 lakh for the current rebuilding and refurbishment project of the Press Club” were adopted.

In the first place, the MC – under Article 36 d of the amended by-laws of the Press Club – should have circulated the draft minutes of the SGM held on July 27,2007, within three months of the said SGM. The MC has failed to do so. Secondly, it should have at least circulated among the members now and made reading of the draft minutes of the said SGM a part of the AGM scheduled for July 25,2008.

For your ready reference, Article 36 d of the Press Club amended by-laws read thus: “The draft minutes of a special general body meeting shall be circulated within three months of that meeting. The same draft minutes shall be read out at the next general body meeting, excepting a requisitioned meeting”.

2) The tabling of a crucial inquiry report on the alleged violent incident involving member Rennie Abraham and Club Secretary Gurbir Singh, which took place on the night of August 3, 2006, does not figure in the agenda for the AGM scheduled for July 25,2008. This issue had been discussed in the last two AGMs held on August 25, 2006 and July 27,2007 respectively. We have been given to understand that the inquiry report was submitted recently by the inquiry committee to the outgoing MC.

We would like to know as to why the outgoing MC is hesitating to make public the inquiry committee report on an incident involving its own secretary Gurbir Singh and member Rennie Abraham. Making public the inquiry committee report on the said alleged violent incident – in whatever form the report has been written and submitted – is rather important, considering that it took more than one and half years for the committee to complete its inquiry and submit its report – which we are told contains just three pages. The report also gives a chance to members to discuss threadbare as to how the outgoing MC has handed the inquiry, in an apparent effort to bail out its secretary Gurbir Singh.

3) The documents circulated along with AGM notice like Annual report by the MC for 2007-08 and balance sheet, do not contain a report by Internal Auditor G Vishwanath, though the MC has duly circulated the statutory auditor Yatin Yavvaharkar’s report among the members.

The circulation of Internal Auditor Mr Vishwanath’s internal audit report was important, as he was expected to give an opinion independent of the statutory auditor, whose report is strictly official and brief in nature and it does not contain comments which an internal auditor – being a witness to the happenings within the Press Club – would have made keeping in the club’s long-term interests in mind.

The internal auditor’s report should have been circulated along with the 2008 AGM documents, considering that the MC has incurred a staggering Rs 1.19 crore on re-building the Press Club and projected a rosy picture in this regard in its annual report for 2007-08. For, Mr Vishwanath’s views would have come in handy for members to discuss the issue threadbare at the July 25, 2008 meeting.

In this context, we would like to know the following:
1) Has the Internal Auditor Vishwanath indeed submitted his report to the Press Club MC and the President of the Club?

2) If yes, why has the MC not made the internal auditor’s report as part of the documents circulated among the club members along the July 25, 2008 AGM notice?

3) Had the Internal Auditor gone through the club’s accounts for 2007-08 before the balance sheet was presented before the office bearers initially and subsequently the MC of the Press Club which cleared the accounts at its meeting held on June 27, 2008?

4) If the internal auditor had indeed gone through the club’s accounts, confabulated with the Statutory Auditor and also passed on his report to the MC, why did Internal Auditor Vishwanath and Pradip Vijayakar hold a prolonged meeting with the statutory auditor Mr Vyavaharkar at the club in the first week of July after the accounts were finalised and the MC decided the poll shedule?.

5) If not the MC which has reasons to hide things, will the Internal Auditor in Mr Vishwanath clarify as to why his report is not a part of the documents circulated by the outgoing MC along with the July 25, 2008 AGM notice?

Voters list

Find your name in the voters list and please do raise objections over its inaccuracies

In order to help all members of The Press Club, Mumbai, to find out their names in the ‘final’ voters list for the Club elections, we are posting a copy of the list on our blog. This is perhaps for the first time that the Club’s voters list is being made available on Internet.

We had expected that a draft (preliminary) voters list shall be put up on the Club’s official website so as to facilitate the members to renew their membership in time and also to make online corrections in their name & contact details. The Club’s website, however, has not been updated for ages and does not even carry the election notice and the annual report. This copy was, however, duly procured from the Club and any member may purchase its hardcopy by paying Rs 25 only.

We request all the members to check spelling of their names in the list and if there is any such or other inaccuracy they should inform the Club manager and also to us so that the process for its correction may be initiated as soon as it is possible.

We also request all the genuine members to check if the list has names of those non-bonafide voters who have left journalism for greener pastures or were never in this profession. They may inform accordingly to the Club Membership Review & Scrutiny Committee and also to us.

This Review committee, constituted by the Club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the year 2006, was mandated to address serious concerns expressed by several senior members in that AGM to look into large number of such complaints and recommend concrete measures to the Club managing committee to complete the task to weed out all non-bonafide members from the voters list before the next elections.

The outgoing managing committee has failed to complete this task, despite some reported suggestions belatedly given to it by the Club Membership Review & Scrutiny Committee, headed by the senior member Sunil Shivdasani.

There are apparently many such non-bonafide voters in this list prepared by the Club’s managing committee and at the moment we wish to point out just one glaring case. The ‘final’ voters list includes name of a member who was suspended by the managing committee itself till October 2008!!!


VOTERS LIST 2008


Serial No Name Membership No

1 SUKRUT KHANDEKAR 5
2 MADHU SHETYE 6
3 S.K.SHAM 9
4 YOGI AGGARWAL 10
5 JAIDEEP BOSE 11
6 AYAZ MEMON 13
7 ARUN BHATT 16
8 VISHWANATH SACHDEV 18
9 P.M.SHETTY 19
10 OOMMEN A.NINAN 20
11 BHARAT KUMAR RAUT 21
12 MARCELLUS BAPTISTA 23
13 S.J.DHRUV 32
14 JAGDISH RATTANANI 36
15 KIRAN NABAR 41
16 GURBIR SINGH 42
17 JAYANT JARIWALA 45
18 SAYED MOBIN AHMED 47
19 SALIM W.ANDREWS 53
20 VIDHYADHAR V.DATE 54
21 M.J.PANDEY 58
22 MUKESH PARPIYANI 64
23 D.D.NAIK 65
24 DILIP RAOTE 66
25 RAFIQUE BAGHDADI 69
26 P.AJAYAKUMAR 70
27 V.S.N.SASTRY 73
28 RONITA TORCATO 74
29 DARRYAL R D'MONTE 81
30 VIMALA PATIL 82
31 P.M.S.MENON 84
32 W.G.BARRETTO 85
33 SRINIVAS HEBBAR 86
34 BALJEET PARMAR 88
35 ANIL K.SINGH 92
36 PRADEEP SHINDE 95
37 ASHOK ROW KAVI 99
38 PRADEEP VIJAYKAR 100
39 PRAKASH B.JOSHI 104
40 DILISH PAREKH 105
41 GLEN D'SOUZA 107
42 SURENDRA MODI 108
43 ANIL M.SHINDE 109
44 TARA PATEL 110
45 ABBAS CHISTY 112
46 N.RAGHURAMAN 115
47 AHMED IZHAR 120
48 P.A.FRANCIS 123
49 SHIVAJI T.SAWANT 124
50 C.R.BALASUBRAMANIAM 125
51 PRASHANT H.NADKAR 126
52 KEVIN N.D'SOUZA 127
53 THOMAS JOSEPH ABREO 130
54 G.VISHWANATH 132
55 P.SHANKAR 135
56 C.N.GEORGE 137
57 DWIJVENDRA NATH TIWARI 138
58 NITIN KEER 139
59 K.D.JOSHI 143
60 NISHIKANT S.P. 144
61 LEKHA RATTANANI 145
62 VIJAY D.ZODGE 149
63 J.P.SINGH 150
64 D.K.VARAM 152
65 VASANI M.K. 153
66 PHILIP CHACKO 155
67 SUMA VARGHESE 156
68 GEORGE S.ALEXANDER 159
69 SUMIT SHARMA 160
70 K.MAHESH 161
71 PETER ARACKAL 162
72 C.N.KRISHNA KUMAR 164
73 VIJAY KUMAR BHASKAR 165
74 SANJIT KUNDU 166
75 RAASHID AKHTAR 168
76 KUMAR PARTHASARATHY 170
77 GAYATRI NAYAK 171
78 NISHANT D.SARVANKAR 172
79 JANAK BHATT 173
80 DINYAR CONTRACTOR 175
81 DEVENDRA MOHAN 183
82 NINAD P.SIDDHAYE 186
83 SOANS J.IVOR 187
84 VIRENDRA KUMAR VERMA 189
85 SUNIL R.KHANDARE 191
86 GAJANAN B.DUDHALKAR 192
87 GOVINDRAJ ETHIRAJ 193
88 S.KISHORE 194
89 SHRIRAM R.VARNEKAR 196
90 GIRISH SRIVASTAVA 197
91 SAROJ TRIPATHI 198
92 JAYANT G.PATEL 200
93 MOHAMED USMAN SUMRA 201
94 SAROSH BANA 202
95 PRASHANT V.SAWANT 204
96 PAREN JAMBHALE 205
97 GAURI SINGH 206
98 SUNIL SHIVADASANI 208
99 T.SURENDAR 209
100 GEORGE MATHEW 210
101 RAJESH DALVI 212
102 ALEX D'SOUZA 213
103 UDAY SAHADEO TALEKAR 214
104 CAROL ANDRADE 215
105 SYLVESTER MENEZES 216
106 A.B.RAVI 219
107 SURESH NANDI 220
108 GIRISH KUBER 221
109 DNYANESHWAR T.RAORANE 222
109 DNYANESHWAR T.RAORANE 222
110 MILIND KOKJE 223
111 ANAND ADHIKARI 224
112 D.K.RAIKAR 227
113 SHIV KUMAR 228
114 FRENY MANECKSHA 229
115 SURESH SHANKAR BILAYE 232
116 MANOJ PARSHURAM PATIL 233
117 RAJAS D.KELKAR 234
118 VILAS LAXMIKANT PAI 235
119 C.B.BALLARY 236
120 SUMANT MISHRA 237
121 RAGHAVENDRA K.N. 238
122 RAJESH A.PATEL 240
123 JITENDRA DIXIT 241
124 SUHAS ANANT JOSHI 242
125 KEDAR DAMLE 243
126 PRAKASH AKOLKAR 245
127 RAHUL JOSHI 247
128 KEVIN COUTINHO 248
129 PRAVIN L.KAJROLKAR 249
130 PREMCHAND M.SHARMA 250
131 KALPANA SHARMA 251
132 NANDINI DHULDHOYA 253
133 DURAIRAJ 254
134 HEMANT VASANT DESAI 256
135 VIJAY RAJARAM SALVI 257
136 PANJU GANGULI 258
137 MRITYUNJAY BOSE 259
138 OMPRAKASH TIWARI 261
139 I.S.BHADRA 263
140 PUNIT PARANJPE 266
141 VENKETESH RAGHAVAN 267
142 AKELLA SRINIVAS R. 269
143 NEERAJ PRIYADARSHI 271
144 SHAILESH R.MULE 272
145 BOBBY ANTHONY 273
146 PADMANABH S.MANDA 274
147 KISHOR D.CHEULKAR 275
148 DILIP CHAWRE 277
149 K.U.HEGDE 279
150 RANJIT R.HOSKOTE 280
151 A.K.RAMANUJAM 281
152 S.D.RANE 282
153 A.F.R.SUDAR 286
154 AXAY M.ANTANI 287
155 PRAKASH A.HEGDE 288
156 MILON MUKHERJEE 289
157 AJIT R.JOSHI 290
158 KIRAN KASBEKAR 291
159 GANGADHARAN R.RANJIT 298
160 M.C.GOVARDHAN RANGAN 301
161 NEETA KOLHATKAR 302

162 RAGHU MOHAN 303
163 MOHANKUMAR P.PATIL 304
164 MADHU T. 306
165 SHARAFATH KHAN 308
166 SITANSHU SWAIN 310
167 KISHOR D.VYAS 311
168 SERENA FRANKLIN 312
169 C.V.KULKARNI 313
170 DIGAMBER M.SAWANT 314
171 S.S.RAMASWAMY 315
172 NAUZER K.BHARUCHA 317
173 VIVEK NAIR 318
174 SHIRISH SHETE 319
175 SANTOSH BANE 320
176 ALOK SHRIVASTAV 321
177 SATISH G.KHAMBETE 322
178 DAKSESH PARIKH 323
179 AABID SURTI 326
180 NORBERT FELIX REGO 327
181 CUCKOO PAUL 328
182 RAJESH S.KURUP 331
183 SOMIT SEN 332
184 SACHINDRA TRIPATHI 333
185 J.F.CORREA 334
186 KRIPA JANAKI RAMAN 335
187 PARTHASARATHY SWAMI 337
188 CAMILO FERNANDES 338
189 MARUTI M. MOGALE 339
190 C.K.UNNIKRISHNAN 343
191 SANJAY C.ROKADE 345
192 VALENTINE S.FERNANDO 346
193 PETER F.D'SOUZA 348
194 SYED SHUJAAT HUSSAIN 349
195 MANSUKHLAL V.MEHATA 350
196 ABIR PAL 351
197 HENRY D'SOUZA 355
198 INDIRA KHANNA 356
199 NITIN W.SONAWANE 357
200 NANDAKUMAR MARAR 358
201 HEMENDRA VYAS 359
202 FUZAIL JAFFEREY 360
203 ANIL JITENDRA RAWAL 362
204 JAI SHANKARA 363
205 ANOOP BABANI 364
206 NAAZNEEN KARMALI 365
207 T.N.RAGHUNATHA 367
208 SATISH NANDGAONKAR 369
209 DILIP B.PATANKAR 370
210 SATYANARAYANA N.VANGA 372
211 GAUTAM CHAKRAVARTY 373
212 P.N.V.NAIR 374
213 KANTILAL H.SOMANI 377
214 VINOD MAHANTA 378
215 VAGEESH SARASWAT 379
216 P.S.NERURKAR 381
217 NILESH ANANDRAO MORE 383
218 ANJU MAKHIJA 385
219 KAMAL KUMAR MISHRA 386
220 CHANDRA PRAKASH JHA 388
221 JAGDEEP WORAH 390
222 KIRAN R.DONGAONKAR 392
223 ROHIT CHANDAVARKAR 393
224 BHUENDRA TYAGI 394
225 DEREK BOSE 396
226 C.V.RODRIGUES 397
227 ANURAG ANANT JOSHI 400
228 SAI PRASANNA 401

229 DEEPAK D.SAHIJWALA 402
230 DON GLEN MONTEIRO 403
231 HEMANT SHIRODKAR 404
232 N.K.KURUP 405
233 SOMANATH T.PATIL 408
234 MANOJ DEHANKAR 409
235 KRISHNADEVAN.V 410
236 G.S.BHADEKAR 412
237 BAIJU KALESH 413
238 DINESH NARAYANAN 416
239 SHYAM DHARGALKAR 418
240 MAN MOHAN SARAL 419
241 S.JOSEPH 421
242 D.N.MAHATEKAR 423
243 E.GOPAKUMAR 424
244 PRATAP ASBE 425
245 VINOD MENON 428
246 VISHWAS K.DIGGIKAR 429
247 JAYPRAKASH P.KELKAR 430
248 DHARMENDRA P.SINGH 437
249 ABRAHAM MATHAI 439
250 SUMIT GHOSHAL 441
251 JITEN GANDHI 443
252 B.N.JADHAV 444
253 LAXMI PRASAD GUPTA 445
254 RAJAN S.PINGLE 446
255 MITHILESH SINHA 447
256 YATISH RAJAWAT K 449
257 DANIEL FERNANDES 450
258 SHEKHAR V.TIWARI 451
259 ARBIND K.GUPTA 453
260 MAHENDRA NATH NARHARI 454
261 SABARINATH M. 456
262 PRAKASH YERAM 458
263 MUKESH M.PANDYA 462
264 WILLIAM D'COSTA 466
265 SUGATA GHOSH 467
266 BODHISATVA GANGULI 469
267 SHRIRAM C.SHIDHAYE 470
268 SANJAY BORADE 471
269 SUNIL NANGIA 473
270 KAPIL KUMAR DHOREY 475
271 CHINTAMANI ANANT JOG 479
272 PARUL R.SHETH 480
273 SAJID RASHEED 481
274 S.C.JHA 482
275 ASHOK JAINANI 483
276 PADMA S.KARVE 484
277 ASHESH K.SHAH 485
278 ASHISH S.RAJE 486
279 JAHID ALI RIYASAT 489
280 KAMAL JAIN 493
281 LANCELOT JOSEPH 494
282 RAMANATH SUBBU 496
283 SUNIL TAMBE 500
284 SUDESHNA SEN 501
285 ARVIND B.MUKHEDKAR 503
286 ASHOK DARNE 505
287 SUBAHU M.PARIKH 506
288 RAMAKANT B.CHAVAN 507
289 SHAILENDRA AWASTHI 513
290 SUJATA ANANDAN 514
291 MAHENDRA JAGTAP 515
292 DARA K.POCHKHANAWALA 516
293 MAHENDRA PARIKH 518
294 ANJALI MATHUR 519
295 SARFARAZ ARZU 522

296 GORDON D'COSTA 523
297 VIJU B. 524
298 YASSIN A.PITTALWALA 525
299 JAIDEEP MARAR 526
300 MANI D'MELLO 527
301 C.UNNIKRISHNAN 528
302 MANUEL I.FERNANDES 529
303 ASHOK UPADHAYAYA 530
304 AWADHESH VYAS 531
305 K.S.C.MURTHY 532
306 SATISH MISHRA 534
307 SHATRUGHAN RAM PRASAD 535
308 ABHAY DESHPANDE 536
309 NEELKANT J.PARATKAR 537
310 V.VEERA KUMAR 538
311 PRITTI KUMAR 539
312 RAJARSHI ROY 541
313 RAVISHANKAR RAO 542
314 SANJAY PRABHAKAR 543
315 VIKAS KHOT 547
316 VINAYAK G.SAWANT 548
317 J.N.RAINA 549
318 V.ANAND 550
319 MANISH PANCHOLI 551
320 BHUSHAN MHAPRALKAR 552
321 VITHAL C.NADKARNI 555
322 ARUN RAM PATIL 556
323 UMESH D.GOSWAMI 557
324 AGNELLO NOEL F. 558
325 RAJAN S.PARAB 559
326 SEEMA FHERWANI 560
327 BHARAT C.CHANDA 562
328 O.P.THOMAS 565
329 AFZAL H.SIDDIQUE 566
330 MUTHUKUMAR K. 567
331 VINOD KHATRI 568
332 SARTHAK BANERJEE 569
333 ROMMEL RODRIGUES 570
334 MANOJ SHANTANU GADNIS 571
335 VINAY NAYUDU 573
336 KRUSHIK J.RAO 574
337 ANUSHA SUBRAMANIAN 578
338 R.N.GUPTA 581
339 MEENA MENON 584
340 G.K.SUDEEP 585
341 P.SHIVKUMAR 588
342 SANGITA MEHTA 589
343 JATIN DESAI 592
344 RUCHA CHITRODIA 593
345 EAJAZ AHMED ANSARI 594
346 MALIKA RODRIGUES 595
347 TUSHAR NANAL 596
348 ROHIT VISHNU RODGE 597
349 MILTON D'SILVA 598
350 VINOD RAGHAVAN 601
351 SUNIL KUMAR MEHOTRA 602
352 BRUNO J.GOVEARS 605
353 VIMAL KUMAR MISHRA 606
354 VINIT SHARMA 607
355 JAMES JACOB 608
356 NICHOLAS YARDE 611
357 B.S.SRINIVASALU REDDY 612
358 SAYED SAMEER ABEDI 613
359 JOHN MATHEW 614
360 VIJAY SITARAM GURAV 615
361 SUMEET S.NAIK 616
362 SUDHANSHU S.JHA 618

363 MENKA SHIVDASANI 620
364 SANTOSH C.K. 621
365 PRADEEP CHANDRA 623
366 SADANAND GODBOLE 628
367 NARENDRA D.KOTHEKAR 629
368 ASHRAF ENGINEER 630
369 SHIRISH RAJA KARALE 631
370 KAILASH SENGAR 633
371 NITIN B.SAWANT 635
372 E.L.VAIDYANATHAN 636
373 ANIL BHARATIYA 638
374 PILAKKOT VINU 639
375 BHAGWAT C.PRAJAPATI 640
376 M.V.RAMSURYA 641
377 AJAY S.VAIDYA 642
378 ASHLEY D'MELLO 643
379 SHRIKANT SHRIRAM MODAK 644
380 RAJRISHI SINGHAL 645
381 AUSTIN LOBO 646
382 HEMANT MORPARIA 649
383 YASHWANT HARI PADHYE 650
384 RADHAKRISHNA K.NAIR 652
385 FAWZAN HUSAIN 653
386 K.R.UNNIKRISHNAN 654
387 SWATI DESHPANDE 655
388 HITESH N.CHUDASAMA 657
389 PAUL R.NARONHA 658
390 SUDHARAK OLWE 659
391 ABHIJIT SATHE 660
392 SHASHIKALA BALIGA 661
393 VINAYAK M.ZODGE 664
394 DHARMENDRA W.JORE 666
395 DIBEYENDU GANGULY 668
396 ARVIND KUMAR SINGH 671
397 SHUBHA KHANDEKAR 672
398 NIRENDRA N.DEV 673
399 BACHCHALAL K.SONI 674
400 SHAKEEL RASHEED KHAN 675
401 UDAY TANPATHAK 676
402 USHA PANNALAL GUPTA 677
403 M.PADMAKSHAN 678
404 SANKARA R.IYER 680
405 N.SREEJITH 681
406 DEV CHATTERJEE 684
407 SURESH CHANDRA SHARMA 686
408 VINOD C.VASUDEO 688
409 PRASANTA KUNDU 689
410 ANAND GOVINDRAJAN 690
411 MAHESH R.IYENGAR 691
412 AZIZ EJAZ 692
413 NITIN BELLE 693
414 CHANDRASHEKAR P.SANT 694
415 VINOD S.PATEL 695
416 PRASAD P.MOKASHI 700
417 RAJESH P.KARANDE 701
418 ANTO JOSEPH 702
419 INDRA KUMAR JAIN 703
420 ASHWIN J.PUNNEN 704
421 SHAI VENKATRAMAN 705
422 UNNIKRISHNAN G.NAIR 708
423 SRIRAM RAMAKRISHNAN 711
424 FRNCIS A.CHETTIAR 713
425 FAIZAL P.P. 714
426 VIVEK P.BENDRE 716
427 P. GOPALAKRISHNAN 719
428 NARESH FERNANDES 720
429 RENNI ABRAHAM 721

430 NELSON ALWYN PEREIRA 722
431 MANDR SURESH DEODHAR 724
432 LAKDHIR T.DODIA 725
433 RAJAN V.KAKANADAN 727
434 DILIP MAHADEV JADHAV 728
435 SANJAY RAMMOORTHY 730
436 JAIDEEP M.GANATRA 732
437 RAJESH V.MASCARENHAS 735
438 SANJAY ARJUN HADKAR 736
439 SANDEEP R.PATIL 737
440 RAJESH P.KOCHREKAR 738
441 JAMES MANALODY 740
442 MUKUND M.KARNIK 741
443 MARIO J.RODRIGUES 743
444 D.MAHADEVAN 744
445 NARAYAN V.UCHIL 745
446 LATHA VENKATRAMAN 747
447 HARESH R.SONEJI 753
448 SURYAKANT NIWATE 755
449 YOGESH SADHWANI 756
450 EDWIN FERNANDES 759
451 SAROJINI SRIHARSH 760
452 VIJAYANAND GUPTA 764
453 VINAYAK GOVIND DALVI 768
454 SURAT T.THAKUR 769
455 DINESH G.SHETYE 771
456 ASHA VOHRA 772
457 MEXY XAVIER 774
458 ASHWIN R.BORICHA 775
459 SURESH SHARMA 776
460 ATUL JANARDAN LOKE 777
461 ANIL C.PATRICK 779
462 S.HARACHAND 783
463 MEHER CASTELINO 784
464 GAUTAM BURAGOHAIN 785
465 SHAILENDRA B.GANGAN 787
466 DILIP MULJIBHAI KAGDA 788
467 RAVISHANKAR 789
468 AMRITESHWAR S.MATHUR 790
469 ANOOP AGRAWAL 791
470 NINA MARIA MARTYRIS 792
471 SUMATI K.SAMPEMANE 793
472 DEEPAK ANKUSH SALVI 794
473 KEDAR C. NENE 795
474 SACHIN HARALKAR 796
475 LYLA BAVADAM 797
476 SUNIL KUKRETI 800
477 NIMESH B.DAVE 801
478 AJAY BRAHMATMAJ 803
479 VIVEK AGARWAL 804
480 RAMESH N.BIRTHI 806
481 ALOK R.GUPTA 817
482 SHAILESH JAIRAM KADAM 819
483 ROY JOSEPH 820
484 ABHIJIT DOSHI 823
485 AYUB M.SHEKASON 824
486 RAMANATHA PAI K. 825
487 KSHAMA BALKRISHNA RAUT 826
488 VALENTINE DE SOUZA 827
489 JAYENDRA D.BHATKAR 828
490 SATISH D.MALAVADE 831
491 VASANT J.PRABHU 833
492 ABHIMANYU A.SHITOLE 836
493 PRABHAKAR P.CHINCHOLE 837
494 PRAVIN MARUTI GARUD 838
495 MANU JOSEPH 839
496 UMA VASANT KADAM 843

497 ANUJ ALANKAR 846
498 YOGESH SUBHASH KOLTE 847
499 SHATRUGHAN SINGH 848
500 B.MADHAV RAO 849
501 K.RAMESH NAIR 850
502 ANAND PRAKASH MISHRA 853
503 PRANATI MEHERA 854
504 VILAS P.TOKALE 855
505 RAMLATH KAVIL 856
506 SHELDON SANTWAN 857
507 CALVIN JOSHUA 859
508 SANJAY RAM BHATIA 860
509 AVINASH T.CHANDANE 861
510 MAYUR N.SHAH 862
511 NITIN N.SAPRE 863
512 N. P.VISPUTE 864
513 MANOJ BHIMRAO BHOYAR 866
514 SANTOSH ARUN PRADHAN 868
515 BONNY THOMAS 872
516 DHAGE UDDHAV YASHWANT 874
517 AVINASH U.KAMATH 875
518 HARSHADA G.VEDPATHAK 876
519 HARSHAL S.MALEKAR 877
520 VIKAS KUMAR 878
521 KETAN TANNA 880
522 JAYANT P.MAINKAR 881
523 DERICK D'SA 884
524 DIPAYAN BAISHYA 885
525 JAMES MATHEW 886
526 SONI S.HIMATLAL 889
527 URVI JAPPI 892
528 KANNAN VENU 893
529 RAJIV BANERJEE 894
530 RAVINDRA JAIN 895
531 RAHUL MAHAJANI 896
532 HARIHAR NARAYANSWAMI 897
533 PRITHVIPAL S.CHAUDHARI 898
534 YOGESH V.NAIK 899
535 ABHAY P.KOTECHA 902
536 PREM.U.B 906
537 JAIMON GEORGE 909
538 RANOJOY MUKERJI 910
539 BOBILLI VIJAY KUMAR 913
540 S. M. BOOTHAM 915
541 AMIT SHANBAUG 917
542 WILLAM C.D'SOUZA 918
543 SANJAY D.MALME 919
544 KRISHNAKUMAR THEVAR 921
545 DINESH PATEL 922
546 P.C.MATHEW 923
547 SIBI SATHYAN 924
548 ATUL.B.SANGANI 926
549 DIVAKARAN A.M. 928
550 NILESH MAHENDRA DAVE 929
551 VIDYUT KUMAR 930
552 YOGESH V.MEHENDALE 932
553 SUNIL DAMANIA 935
554 SANJAY RAJAN 936
555 UMAKANT B.DESHPANDE 941
556 PRASHANT S.DIXIT 942
557 ASHISH SHANKAR GUPTA 943
558 HEMANT MISHRA 944
559 KALPIT ARUN MANKIKAR 948
560 SYED SALMAN 951
561 SUGATHA MENON 953
562 C.V.VISHWANATH 954
563 JAYA AGNIHOTRI 955

564 KUNESH N.DAVE 957
565 JAIKISHAN YADAV 960
566 MANKAR DATTA EKNATH 961
567 SATISH SONKER 962
568 RAVINDRA BABAJI JADHAV 964
569 DATTARAM B.DALVI 965
570 MANOJ P.WADEKAR 966
571 AJAY JINDAL 967
572 S.MOHD.ABID NAQVI 968
573 ABHIJIT KULKARNI 969
574 PANSARE P.RAMCHANDRA 971
575 SHYAM G.MENON 973
576 GIRISH R.DESHMUKH 975
577 MUKESH CHANDRA 976
578 SANTOSH VERMA 977
579 AKSHAY SAWAI 978
580 S.S.BHORIA 982
581 IVAN CRASTO 983
582 MANISHA M.REGE 984
583 BAPU DEEDWANIA 985
584 PRASHANT S.YERAM 986
585 RUBY P.LILAOWALA 988
586 INDRANIL MUKHERJEE 991
587 G.KRISHNAN 992
588 ABHIMANYURADHAKRISHNAN 993
589 NUPUR ACHARYA 995
590 KANAKA SINGH 996
591 ABHIRAM S.G.PATIL 997
592 KALPANA SUNIL RANE 999
593 MAHESH A.VASWANI 1000
594 SIDDIQUI AHMED ALI 1001
595 ANITA S.IYER 1002
596 M.C.VAIJAYANTI 1005
597 KISHOR NARAYAN SOMAN 1006
598 ANIL MADHAV JOSHI 1008
599 JAISON LEWIS 1009
600 VIVEK SINHA 1010
601 DEVENDRA PRATAP SINGH 1013
602 CHARLES ASSISI 1015
603 MADHU A.NAINAN 1016
604 SAVIO I.J.D'SOUZA 1017
605 SUDARSHAN G.SURVE 1018
606 U.N.NAYAK 1019
607 SANDEEP S. KOTIAN 1020
608 SHIBU THOMAS 1021
609 ASHOK M PANVALKAR 1023
610 HARISH PATHAK 1024
611 MAKARAND GADGIL 1025
612 SANTOSH S.ANDHALE 1027
613 NEVIN JHON 1028
614 GEETA RAVINDRA DESAI 1030
615 JAGDISH I.VAKTANIA 1031
616 BOBBY I.BINDRA 1032
617 RADHIKA D.PANCHOLI 1033
618 ARUN JANARDHAN 1035
619 KIM ALICE FERNANDES 1036
620 RAVINDRA A RAWOOL 1038
621 K.R.SUDHAMAN 1039
622 PROBIR PARAMANIK 1040
623 SHANTANU DAS 1041
624 DIPTI NAGPAUL 1042
625 P.VASUKI 1043
626 SADANAND LOKU SHETTY 1045
627 B.SHRIKANT 1047
628 JOHN JOSEPH COLOCO 1048
629 RAKSHIT SONAWANE 1049
630 SANJAY GANPAT PARAB 1051

631 RESHMA SURESH MURKAR 1052
632 SAMIR GULAB MANIYAR 1054
633 B.SUNDARAMURTHY 1055
634 VAIBHAV VIJAY KANGUTKAR 1056
635 PRIYANK RAVINDRA KELKAR 1058
636 HETAL H.VYAS 1061
637 KASHIF KHUSRO 1062
638 RANJIT M. PATEL 1063
639 ASHISH RUKHAIYAR 1064
640 RANJIT R.SHINDE 1065
641 PREETHI CHAMIKUTTY 1068
642 CHANDRAN M IYER 1069
643 NAVINKUMAR S PATEL 1070
644 NIBANDH VINOD 1072
645 ASHWIN K FERRO 1073
646 ATUL K KAMBLE 1074
647 SUNIL A GHUME 1075
648 MOHAN K IGNATIUS 1076
649 JAYDEVI D PUJARISWAMI 1077
650 JAYPRAKASH J GAJBHIV 1078
651 MAHUL BRAHMA 1080
652 BARUN CHAKRABORTY 1081
653 UMESH E KUMAWAT 1082
654 AKHILESH T TIWARI 1084
655 NIJAY P THAKER 1085
656 VISHAL K OLWE 1087
657 ATUL BABURAO KAMBLE 1088
658 GIRDHARI V MADHAVRAO 1089
659 MOHEMMED WAJIHUDDIN 1090
660 MONIDEEPA MUKHERJEE 1091
661 VAMAN V KAMAT 1092
662 VIDYADHAR V CHINDARKAR 1093
663 BIJOYA KUMAR TAGORE 1094
664 SATYA S RATH 1095
665 MICHAEL CORREYA 1096
666 NAVEENA ISRANI 1097
667 KAMLESH P SANTE 1098
668 BADAL R PANDYA 1099
669 UMA ASHAR 1101
670 GAUTAM SEN 1102
671 PARAG RABADE 1103
672 LAXMIDAS S INAMDAR 1104
673 DHAVAL S KULKARNI 1105
674 MEENA K IYER 1107
675 RAHUL RANALKAR 1109
676 PRAKASH R SAWANT 1110
677 NILESH S KHARE 1111
678 SYED A ABBAS 1114
679 JANI CHANDRAKANT K 1117
680 RANJU SARKAR 1118
681 DENNIS S FERNANDO 1119
682 SATISH KAMATH 1121
683 ASHISH RANE 1122
684 VENKATESH GANESH 1123
685 DEEPAK M TURBHEKAR 1124
686 DILIP S PHANSALKAR 1125
687 THOMAS ABRAHAM 1129
688 PIYUSH PANDEY 1130
689 PINKI D DALAL 1132
690 NANDINI TRIVEDI 1133
691 NEHUL J KUMAR 1134
692 RAJIVA R SINGH 1135
693 IRSHAD T DAFTARI 1137
694 JAIDEEP P KARVE 1138
695 DEVIDUTTA TRIPATHY 1139
696 PRAVEEN RANA 1140
697 R.S. GOPAKUMAR 1141
698 ATUL R KADAM 1142
699 SAMEER S KARAMBE 1144
700 PRINCE M THOMAS 1145
701 ANIL B CHAKRADEO 1146
702 UMESH V MOHITE 1147
703 CHITTARANJAN ALVA 1149
704 SHIBU J ANITHOTTATHIL 1151
705 NISHANTH VASUDEVAN 1154
706 RENJINI L VARGHESE 1155
707 RUKMINI SHRINIVASAN 1156
708 SRIPRAKASH MENON 1158
709 SHALINI NAIR 1159
710 LEO MIRANI 1160
711 PRASHANT P KENI 1161

Mr Gurbir Singh , why are you not announcing the 2008 Press Club poll schedule?

Delay in the press club elections

We are rather surprised that despite having finalised the schedule for its first biennial polls at its meeting held on June 27, 2008, the outgoing Managing Committee (MC) of the Press Club, Mumbai, has yet to ‘notify’ the poll schedule. Though the MC enjoys the prerogative of nominating the returning officer and deciding on the poll schedule, the ruling clique is without doubt making most of its powers to gain undue political advantage over its challengers by delaying the announcement about the poll schedule.

Before discussing at length the MC’s deliberate delay in notifying the poll schedule, let us dwell on the provisions for the conduct of polls laid down under the Club’s new constitution. In the normal course, the club polls should have been held on a Saturday before June 30. However, the constitution vests powers with the MC to postpone the polls by one month from June 30 “in exceptional circumstances”. As a ready reckoner, we reproduce below the relevant provision in the club’s constitution:

“ Article 26 (B): In exceptional circumstances, the managing committee may, by a two-thirds majority of its members present and voting, decide to postpone the AGM by a period not exceeding one month from June 30. In such an event, the election processes, as provided in the election rules, annexed hereto, shall be deemed to have been postponed for a similar period”.

We would like to know as to:
a) what were such “exceptional circumstances” that prompted the MC to postpone the biennial polls by one month,
b) why the members were not informed by the MC earlier about the postponement of the polls,
c) whether the MC followed the due procedure stipulated under Article 26 (B) of the club’s constitution and
d) if yes, when did it do so?

In this context, it is pertinent to put on record the fact that an ‘ordinary’ member C P Jha had objected in writing to the violation of the club’s rules and regulations. While the Constitution (stipulation number two and three of the election rules and regulations) makes it obligatory on the part of MC to begin the process of elections on the first working day of May, of the particular year during which the club goes to polls (which is May 1 itself during the current year considering that it is the first working day of the month).

Setting into motion the electoral process involves two aspects: Apart from finalizing the election schedule and appointing a returning officer, the MC should put up a list of “eligible voters, who have paid their subscription and other dues in full as on the first working day of May”.

Let alone informing the members about the postponement of the polls, the MC this year did not send out the customary notice to members asking them to clear their subscription on or before March 31, 2008 – a departure to which member CP Jha took objection in writing in March this year.
Subsequently, the MC did not even put up a list of “eligible voters” on the club’s notice board on May 1 as was essential. A shocked C P Jha wrote a letter to the Club manager invoking the provisions of Article 39 of the Constitution to write to the Manager of the Press Club and seeking a list of “eligible voters” from the club within “seven working days” stipulated under the above Article.
In his letter, CP Jha also asked for a ‘certified’ copy of the constitution governing the rules and by-laws of the Club. He also handed over copies of this letter to President Pradeep Vijaykar and the Chairman Devendra Mohan in person.

In the normal course – as is provided under Article 39 of the club constitution, the manager should have replied to C P Jha’s letter. Instead, a letter written by Secretary Gurbir Singh, was hand delivered to CP Jha before the “seven day deadline” stipulated under Article 39 expired. In the reply, the Secretary enclosed what he called as a “certified copy” of the club constitution and a copy of “eligible voters”. In his explanation for the delay in putting up the list of “eligible voters” on the notice board, the Secretary said that while the list was “ready”, it could not be put up because computers at the club’s media centre were not functioning during the previous few days.

In effect, following are the departures made by the MC in following the Constitutional and legal provisions:
1) Why did the Secretary appropriate the powers –vested with the Club Manager under Article 39 of the Constitution – to reply to the applicant- C P Jha?
2) Can the Secretary’s explanation that the MC could not put the list of “eligible voters’ list” as the club's computers were not functioning be accepted? Is it not an attempt by the MC to cover up its failure to adhere to its constitutional obligations vis-à-vis election rules and regulations?
3) Significantly enough, what prompted the Secretary to pass on what was called as a “certified” copy of the Club Constitution even while it was the one just signed by him and not actually CERTIFIED by the office of Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra at Mumbai , which governs the bodies registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860– under which the Press Club , Mumbai , is said to have been registered?
4) Is it not illegal to pass on just a copy of the club constitution –signed by himself under the garb of a rubber stamp of his own signature and thus impersonating the legal authority to authorize such certification – instead of the actual certified copy issued by the Charity Commissioner’s office?
The above mentioned departures apart, the MC was once again casual when it came putting up the final list of voters – the one that was put up was unsigned one. When CP Jha brought this to the attention of Chairman Devendra Mohan, the latter offered to sign the notice himself , even while failing to explain as to why Secretary Gurbir Singh had not signed the final list of voters while putting it up on the club’s notice board.

Coming back to the issue of delay in announcing the poll schedule, we would like to emphasise that the manner in which the ruling cliché has conducted itself so far goes to prove that it does want to not provide a “level playing field” for all the candidates desirous of contesting the poll, especially the ones belonging to the Opposition camp. It does not need any guess that the ruling clique would prepare itself fully for the poll – in terms of creating conducive atmosphere for itself, finalizing its candidates and readying the campaign material – before it announces the schedule.

All the same, the ruling clique should realize that the Opposition is intelligent enough to understand as what is going on in the Gurbir Singh-led camp vis-à-vis the poll schedule.

Considering that the 2008 Press Club poll will in likelihood be held on July 26, one can easily hazard a guess that following would be rough poll schedule (a few changes here and there):
Filing of nominations:
Tuesday 15 July 2008 to Monday 21 July 2008 up to 7pm
Scrutiny of nominations at the Club premises:
Tuesday July 22 by 6pm
Withdrawal of nominations:
Wednesday 23 July 2008 unto 7 pm
Polling day:
Saturday, July 26, 2008
We do not deserve any prize for our guesswork. For, it is all elementary. Mr Gurbir Singh are reading? That being the case, what is holding you from coming out with the 2008 Press Club poll schedule?