Over the past several months, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia has been embroiled in controversy concerning its leadership.
Last year on October 15, journalist Simran Sodhi was expelled from the club 10 days after she was appointed as the interim president in what was called a “coup” by those who had been “ousted” as office-bearers. Sodhi, along with Sanjay Kumar, was accused of destabilising the club.
Sodhi, however, challenged the expulsion and filed a case against FCC “president” Venkat Narayan and the club on February 27 this year.
On March 10, the court stayed the expulsion order issued by FCC against Sodhi till the next hearing.
But on March 11, the FCC filed an application seeking to vacate the stay. The club claimed that the March 10 order was passed without giving them an opportunity to be heard. In the plea, FCC alleged that Sodhi had filed an application for early hearing (on March 10) despite the fact the matter was already fixed for hearing on March 20. The club alleged that it was not informed of this development.
In the next hearing on March 20, the court stayed the FCC order against Sodhi’s expulsion till the disposal of the suit and restored her membership.
However, on April 24, the court fined Sodhi Rs 5,000 while hearing the FCC’s application.
The court has now scheduled the matter for August 28 to hear Venkat Narayan’s application seeking dismissal of Simran Sodhi’s suit.
Correction on April 26: An error had inadvertently appeared in the story. The story and the headline have been updated. The error is regretted.
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