Gymkhana Club moves HC

Alleging that the Centre is attempting to forcibly evict Delhi Gymkhana Club from its historic Safdarjung Road premises through an executive notice without due process, a member of the Club has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Centre’s order directing it to vacate its 27.3-acre premises in Lutyens Delhi by June 5 for defence and security-related purposes. The plea was mentioned before Justice Avneesh Jhingan by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who sought urgent hearing. The judge agreed to list the case for hearing on May 26.

Vijay Khurana, a 79-year-old Gymkhana Club member who filed the lawsuit, said that the “vague and generalised reasons” of defence infrastructure and security given by the Centre were just a “sham” and the move was an “attempt to effect forced eviction”.

“The Impugned Notice proceeds on vague and generalized assertions relating to “defence infrastructure”, “public security purposes” and “governance infrastructure”. The Impugned Notice neither identifies any specific public project nor discloses any material, assessment, approval or necessity justifying repossession of the entirety of the Suit Property. The invocation of Clause 4 is entirely mechanical, unsupported by particulars and reflective of complete non-application of mind,” Khurana said in his suit.

“The impugned notice does not provide for any compensation in respect of the loss of the property, the premium paid, or the buildings and structures standing on the premises; is in flagrant violation of Article 300A of the Constitution of India, since Defendant No. 1’s own conduct over decades, most pertinently its letter dated 18.12.2009 bearing No. L&DO/L-IIB/17(9)/368 wherein Defendant No. 1 expressly recorded that “your ownership and titles stand restored” to Defendant No. 2, has unambiguously confirmed that the Perpetual Lease Deed confers proprietary rights on Defendant No. 2, which rights cannot be extinguished in an arbitrary manner without an acquisition process with all the attendant safeguards and payment of compensation,” Khurana said.

He further stated that the notice is a malicious and colourable exercise, being the last in a series of acts by the government to gain control over the institution, including a recent attempt to take over the management of the institution and amounts to an attempt to effect forced eviction through executive force, administrative fiat and threat/exercise of police power instead of following the due process of law.

Another lawsuit by the Delhi Gymkhana Club Ltd Staff Welfare Association against the Centre’s order is also scheduled to be taken up by Justice Avneesh Jhingan on Tuesday. It says that the cooks, waiters, kitchen and housekeeping staff, gardeners and groundsmen, electricians and plumbers, lifeguards, security personnel, etc., employed at the club seeks protection of their source of livelihood as well as fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution.

According to the suit, the Impugned Notice further manufactures an artificial urgency by directing surrender of possession within 15 days without disclosing any emergent circumstance warranting such extraordinary action. No breach, misuse or violation of the Perpetual Lease Deed has been alleged against Defendant No. 2 in the Impugned Notice. The impugned action is therefore arbitrary, disproportionate, non-speaking, contrary to the Perpetual Lease Deed and violative of settled principles governing lawful recovery of possession. No lease can be determined unilaterally without using the remedies available under the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

Khurana said more than 500 members of the Delhi Gymkhana Club supported the lawsuit. It seeks to restrain the Central government from “illegally determining” the Gymkhana Club’s perpetual leasehold rights and to prevent any forced dispossession from the historic premises situated on 2, Safdarjung Road, adjacent to the prime minister’s residence on Lok Kalyan Marg.

The lawsuit said urgent interim protection was necessary in this case, claiming that the Centre has threatened to take possession of the plot of land on June 5 through “coercive measures” and police assistance, which will result in an “irreversible” and “irreparable” situation.

In the lawsuit, Khurana emphasised that the Delhi Gymkhana Club and its members have invested substantial resources towards the development, maintenance and modernisation of the club, and the Centre was seeking to dismantle its institutional existence and irretrievably extinguish the “valuable associational, participatory and membership rights accrued over decades”.

He also asserted that the Centre’s notice, dated May 22, neither provides for any compensation nor does it establish a “bona fide public purpose” in terms of the perpetual lease deed to unilaterally extinguish “century-old” rights.

The lawsuit argued that the Centre’s decision is in flagrant violation of Article 300A of the Constitution, as the record showed that the Delhi Gymkhana Club has proprietary rights over the land, which cannot be taken away arbitrarily without an acquisition process and payment of compensation. Article 300A states that no person can be deprived of his property except by authority of law.

“The uninterrupted recognition of Defendant No. 2’s (Delhi Gymkhana Club) perpetual leasehold rights for nearly a century, coupled with continued acceptance of rent and performance of contractual obligations, created a legitimate expectation of continuity and non-arbitrary treatment,” the lawsuit, filed through lawyer Naman Joshi, said.

“Having already exercised deep and pervasive control over the governance and functioning of Defendant No. 2 through government-appointed nominees, Defendant No. 1 (Centre) has now sought, through the impugned notice, to assume complete control and possession of the suit property itself.