The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to order status quo in a petition filed by 107-year old Central Secretariat Club (CCS) challenging Centre’s decision to withdraw its recognition and evict it from its premises.
Result
The Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in February withdrew the club’s recognition, citing a series of alleged violations and irregularities including gambling, withholding of information, and financial misappropriation. I will ask them (Centre) to file a short reply. It operates from Park Street near Talkatora Road. The club caters to serving and retired central government employees.
Following this the estate officer on July 17 directed them to immediately vacate the premises The club’s lawyers urged the court to order status quo asserting the Centre, following the issuance of the orders, was attempting to take over the premises. CCS, formerly known as Talkatora Club, was established in 1919. Its recognition was withdrawn on February 24, which DoPT upheld on July 14.
They argued that the order was legally unsustainable and “perverse” as it had been passed without issuing any prior notice to the Club. A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma however issued notice and told the club’s lawyers Diya Kapur and Nakul Gandhi, “Sorry, I don’t think so. In its petition, the club had also alleged that the derecognition order was “malicious”, unconstitutional and amounted to a brazen colourable exercise of administrative power. It contended that the Centre was seeking to “weaponise” its own administrative failures and the alleged misdeeds of its ad hoc committee to forcibly dispossess the Club and extinguish the historic institution, in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution.
