Annual general meeting spawns Sunday evening chaos at Lucknow Golf Club

LUCKNOW: It was a chaotic Sunday evening at the prestigious Lucknow Golf Club (LGC) with two groups clashing and the club president walking off "in a huff" after a row with his own committee members.
The annual general meeting (AGM) had been called to pass the club's accounts. However, LGC president Mukul Singhal said that he had not been permitted to go through the accounts, which, according to the club committee, converted the AGM into "mobocracy".
Talking to TOI, Singhal said, "I did not verify the accounts as they did not permit me to check them." Thereafter, he said, members moved a no-confidence motion against the managing committee.An interim committee was formed and fresh elections will be held on October 23, he said.
'Issue revolves around changing club bylaws illegally'
The twist in the tale, however, came with committee members terming it as just spreading rumours and an attempt at arm-twisting. "See, the whole drama was staged from the night when a member threw a dinner for some members and made them sign up for a no-confidence motion," said a committee member.
LGC's honorary secretary Sandeep Das and captain Adesh Seth said that the issue revolves around changing the bylaws of the club "illegally". "One, there is no provision to disband an elected committee, so that is out of the question. Second, the bylaws that were changed granted free membership to influential persons," Das said.
The extraordinary general meeting (EGM) was called on Sunday to deal with the issue. Most senior members of the club voiced their concern on the bylaws that were changed illegally, said Das. "When they saw that they were in a soup as the procedure was not followed and they got it approved by the registrar, they said that a committee should be formed to look into the matter, to which we agreed to resolve the matter amicably", said Das. After that was the AGM, which saw ultimately "president walking off with his coterie".
"There is a certain procedure to be followed", said club captain Adesh Seth. Das, too, said that no procedure was followed, whether it was changing the bylaws, or announcing that the club committee was disbanded.
"It is total chaos, a sad state of affairs that the club is witnessing," said a senior member of the club.