Chandigarh Club sues members over dues

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Chandigarh, October 20

In a first-of-its-kind step, the Chandigarh Club has filed civil suits against many of its members who failed to deposit their dues despite several notices and even termination of their membership.

The court of Civil Judge Senior Division, Chandigarh, has issued notices to the members to appear on January 1. Major Singh, Additional Secretary of Chandigarh Club Ltd, filed the suits through advocate Ranjan Lohan.

The counsel argued before the court that the main objectives for which the club was founded were to promote and encourage social, cultural and intellectual activities amongst its members. The club provided facilities of indoor and outdoor games, food, recreation and other social entertainment activities. The club had swimming pools, squash and tennis courts and other conveniences and amenities to be used by its members. He said the income and the property of the club were used solely for the promotion of these objectives as it functioned on ‘no profit, no loss’ basis.

The counsel said there were various heads of expenditure liable to be incurred on monthly as well as annual basis. There is a fixed monthly expenditure on account of lease of land and building, electricity and water bills, salaries, ESI and provident fund contributions. To meet all such expenditures, the monthly subscription fee and other ancillary and incidental charges, etc, were required to be paid regularly and uninterruptedly by the members. But the defaulter members had not been paying bills for years, which now ran into lakhs of rupees, despite repeated requests, reminders and notices. This even led to termination of their membership but to no avail.

Lohan prayed that the suits of the plaintiff may be decreed in its favour and against the defendants for an amount with interest.

Situated in the foothills of the Shivalik Range, an architectural excellence, the club is one of the leisure and recreation centres of the city having more than 7,000 members from the UT and the neighbouring states.