Lull after the storm

PUNE, Jan 11: The dispute over Deccan Gymkhana has been put to rest for the time being with state charity commissioner V T Purandare cancell...

PUNE, Jan 11: The dispute over Deccan Gymkhana has been put to rest for the time being with state charity commissioner V T Purandare cancelling its registration as a public trust and attempting to achieve an amicable solution.

The thirty year-old dispute was between Deccan Gymkhana Limited plot-holders and the Deccan Gymkhana sports section. Both had staked a claim for the immovable property which includes Tilak tank, the Gymkhana ground and a commercial complex.

The roots of the dispute can be traced to 1929 when Deccan Gymkhana Limited 8212; a company 8212; which came into existence in 1906, bought 35 acres of land from Sardar Madhavrao Shirole Patil on a perpetual lease. It then divided the property into various plots and allotted them to its shareholders.

The plot holders used some portion of the property as a playground.

Currently, there are about 71 plot-holders who have become joint owners of the property.

Deccan Gymkhana Ltd registered the Deccan Gymkhana under the Companies Act, 1882 and the Societies Registration Act, 1860, thus giving legal sanctity to Deccan Gymkhana sports.

It should be remembered that the office-bearers of Deccan Gymkhana in 1952 filed an application before the assistant charity commissioner requesting that Deccan Gymkhana be registered as a public trust. This was done by the assistant charity commissioner8217;s order of June 1, 1954. However, this order was set aside by state charity commissioner on May 9, 1961, when he held during suo motu proceedings, that Deccan Gymkhana cannot be registered as a public trust under the Bombay Public Trusts Act.

Story continues below this ad

The dispute did not end here. The gymkhana was registered as a public trust by assistant charity commissioner, Pune, by an order on January 14,1974. A revision application on this order was filed in 1982 by Dr S G Sardesai and other plot-holders. The joint charity commissioner, while deciding this revision application on June 27, 1993, set aside, for a second time, the order of the assistant charity commissioner. He further recommended fresh hearing and specifically directed the authorities to scrupulously follow the provisions of the Bombay Public Trust Act.

The inquiry was entrusted to deputy charity commissioner S S Pendse who issued a public notice but failed to serve it on all joint owners of the property. Once again Deccan Gymkhana was registered as a public trust.

It was against this order that the revision application, decided recently by state charity commissioner Purandare, was filed in 1994. While deciding the case, Purandare held that the deputy charity commissioner had not issued notices to all joint owners. While setting aside the deputy charity commissioner8217;s findings which registered Deccan Gymkh Purandare remanded the matter for fresh inquiry with directions that notices should be given to every plot-holder and that all parties should get an opportunity to provide evidence to dispose off the inquiry on the merits of law.