Dear All GCC members It is with regret to inform you that we have not been able to conclude on the election process with our opposition, Messrs Shaukat Sidat and his team. We wish to bring to your notice the following, which we as a team are material anomalies, and which will not allow a free and fair election process. 1. Refusal to use Identity cards during the AGM/election process: In the absence of membership cards for the members, we requested the use of some sort of identification to be used while allowing members to attend the AGM followed by the voting. This request was not accepted by Shaukat’s team. Article 41 of the GCC Constitution says: “Membership cards or any other form of identification may be issued from time to time by the Club only to principal members, which identification may need to be carried to the Club by the member as indicated by the Executive Committee from time to time.” Our concern: In the absence of the issue of such cards by the Executive Committee, use of alternate ID cards is only a reasonable request. Failure to do so may result in non-members attending the AGM and deciding the future of the Club instead of genuine members. Furthermore as per Article 48 of the Constitution, no person shall take part in the business of the Club unless he is a member. Again as per Article 87 only members of the Club, the Auditor of the Club and scruteeners appointed by the Club are entitled to attend the AGM.” 2. Failure to appoint independent scruteeners (Election Commissioner): Article 115 says “Independent scrutineers shall be elected by the Executive Committee in consultation with not less than 50% of the team captains of the most prominent league played by the Club.” Article 114 says “Independent scrutineers may be members of the Club, and may also include the office of the Registrar of Societies, independent legal counsel, independent public accountant not being the auditor of the Club for the time being, or such other person/s as the Executive Committee may determine. The scrutineers shall appoint one of them to be their Chairman, and are entitled to formulate their own procedure to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner.” Our concern: As the independent scrutineers have not been appointed as per Article 115, voting cannot be conducted without prejudice. Voting at the proposed AGM tomorrow shall be null and void. 3. Failure to finalize the form of ballot papers: Article 115 says “The Executive Committee in consultation with the independent scrutineers shall finalize the form of ballot papers.” Our concern: Independent scrutineers have not been appointed as per Article 115. We were told yesterday by Shaukat’s team that the ballot papers have been finalized, were pre-numbered, etc. However they were not willing to share these with us. In our understanding, the independent scrutineers, if appointed, would have finalized the form and procedures for controlling the originality of the ballot papers. Voting at the proposed AGM tomorrow on such disapproved ballot 4. Membership List: The membership list comprises of 368 paid up members. Our concerns are as follows: a) According to the work done in my capacity as the Honorary Treasurer of the Club till 30/9/2013, we have a total of 340 members as compared to the list of 368 produced to us. The reconciliation is as under: Total members as per list produced 368 Honorary member not on list 1 Other paid up members not on list 6 Receipts not found for members on the list -32 Other errors -3 Total members per audited accounts 340 Our concern: Despite several requests from Shaukat bhai, they have not been able to produce the receipts for such members. In the absence of this list it is not possible to verify whether the paid up members will be coming for the AGM, which is a requirement of Article 48 which states as follows: “No person shall be eligible to take part in the business of the Club or eligible for selection in any club team unless the appropriate subscription has been paid by a date specified by the Executive Committee or membership has been agreed by the Executive Committee”. b) There is an accusation, that Sanjay Goel, the Honorary Treasurer of the Club was responsible for maintaining the membership list. Article 61 of the Constitution clearly stated that the Secretary is supposed to do this on a monthly basis. This is reproduced as below: “A list of members in each category shall be maintained by the Honorary Secretary or other officer of the Club designated by the Executive Committee. A list, updated monthly, shall be kept on the Club’s premises. Members shall be responsible for notifying changes of address to the Secretary or any other officer so designated.” c) Scorebooks damaged by rain: On the issue of membership list, whereas some teams have paid bulk memberships, we had proposed a reasonable suggestion that those who have played in chronological order on a first come first served basis should be the legible members. Shaukat and his team are of the opinion that this is not correct, rather it should be determined by the person paying the fees as to whom the fees were paid. We therefore see members who played, not in the country for now, are replaced by those who are in the country. As regards the scorebooks, it was told at an Executive Committee earlier this month that the books have been damaged by rain. Yesterday we were told that the books are available. There is not much time left to reconcile this list to the scorebooks at this stage. 5. Denial of free access of accounts to the auditors: I, Sanjay Goel, the Honorary Treasurer of the Club further confirm that whereas is responsible for ensuring that the audit of the accounts is completed. To date Shaukat has held the books and records, including all receipts and payments from 1 October 2013 to date, despite several requests made by me to him, to check cut-off, to check subsequent receipts and payments, to check other subsequent events such as a management report up the the date of the auditors report, which is today. We have a qualified report from the auditor under the circumstances. Conclusion: Gentlemen under these circumstances we do not believe that we are heading for free and fair elections. It is It is our request from you as paid up members of GCC to stand up for your rights. • We should boycott the elections today. • We should seek an adjournment of the meeting for want of scrutineers, membership list and ballot papers. • Shaukat should hand over all the accounts to the Honorary Treasurer from 1 Oct to date so that a clean audit report can be issued • A captain meeting must be called to appoint the scrutineers • The scrutineers should agree on the membership list, and other election processes, including the production of ID cards during the elections.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 09:10:40 +0000
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