Contempt notice against Bengal Club for violation of election rules

A contempt notice has been issued at the Mumbai City Civil court against Bengal Club and its office bearers for violating the norms of elections and not following the standard operating procedure of conducting elections every year. The notice has been issued for not complying with the order passed by the court.

Dipak Chattopadhyay (58), Pulok Chakraborty (69) and Gopal Rasiklal Saha (59), life members of Bengal Club at Veer Savarkar Marg at Shivaji Park at Dadar, have filed a contempt notice. The matter is to be heard on June 22 at the City Civil Court.

According to petitioner Chattopadhyay, “There is a rule that the club should conduct election every year but they have been violating the norms. Instead, the club has been conducting elections every three years only. The committee of the club has failed to adhere to the court orders which is ultra vires. The committee members of the club are not following the rules of election and nomination as per the Memorandum and Articles of Association under Section 10 of the Articles of Association. One of the defendants UK Mukhopadhyay, an Indian Administrative Service officer (IAS), a defendant, is also a party to the violation of rules of election.”

“In 2015, IAS officer Gautam Chatterjee was the president of the Bengal Club. However due to corruption issues by the present President Kamal Kumar Das Gupta was asked to resign,” said Chattopadhyay.

The Articles of Association states that the President Kamal Kumar Das Gupta, Vice-President Tapan Shah, Assistant Secretary Kakoli Bose, General Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and eight members of the Committee shall be elected every year. As per the rules, the nomination along with consent letters signed by the nominee and duly proposed by one member of the club and seconded by another should reach Vivek Bagchi, the Honorary General Secretary within 10 days from the date of inviting nomination.

As per the rule, the Honorary General Secretary shall prepare a list of valid nominations received by him with the aforesaid time, and shall prepare a list of all the members of the club who are eligible to vote and exhibit these lists on the Notice Boards of the club. In case of withdrawal or insufficient number of nominations received, members present at the AGM shall elect and fill up the deficiencies at the meeting. However as per the orders, the rules were violated.

“Strict action should be taken against the club and committee members of the club who are not following the law and order,” added Chattopadhyay.

A written letter was submitted on December 23, 2016 to the President and Secretary of Bengal Club for conducting an illegal Annual General Meeting on December 24, 2016 because the committee formed was illegal.

Earlier, Debendranath Torani Das, Shankarnath Ramdhan Khara and Gopal Rasiklal Saha had lodged a suit against Bengal Club and others in Bombay City Civil court.

The court passed an order and judgement dated April 28, 2016. The judge had held that the defendants were directed to hold further elections for the posts of five office bearers and eight executive committee members in accordance with Article 10 of the Articles of Association.

Bengal Club is a club registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950. It was formed on June 26, 1940 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.