PUNE: The six football clubs whose memberships have been declared ceased by the Poona District Football Association (PDFA) have moved the Pune Charity Commissioner seeking a stay order and reinstating of their rights by the PDFA.
CMS Falcons, Strikers FC, Fatima XI, Phoenix FC, Jolly Range Hills and Ghorpuri Young Ones have invoked Section 41 A of the Bombay Public Trusts Act (1950), which refers to directions given by the Charity Commissioner from time to time to the trustees concerned to ensure proper administration of the trust in question.
The move comes ahead of the Annual General Meeting called by the PDFA on September 29, with ratifying the decision to cease the memberships of the clubs on the agenda.
The six clubs argue that only their representatives are part of the newly-formed 'Football Association Pune' and they should not be penalised for their representatives' action.
"The secretary of the PDFA has not checked whether Fatima XI is registered with FAP or whether the players are joining," Clifford Arland, the secretary of Fatima XI, told TOI.
"Vijayan Arland is only a representative of the club at PDFA. As per the PDFA constitution, the representatives are free of any encumbrance, and are free to form an association, as long as the clubs are not registered or associated with them.
"And, a decision on ceasing the membership can only be taken at the AGM. So, where is the process and records? They are convening an AGM now, after I wrote to them asking for minutes and records of their decision."
Arland clarified that his younger brother Vijayan Arland had stepped down as the club's president in January earlier this year and his resignation was accepted in February.
It is a similar scenario with Falcons, where Shanup Nair had resigned as president of Falcons in January and his younger brother Anup Nair helms the club now.
"We could not intimate the change because the league has not been conducted. It is only at the start of the season can we update the information," said Clifford Arland.
He went further to say that the vice-president, Pyarelal Chaudhary, was in direct violation of Article 13 (3) of the PDFA constitution, which bars a member from holding a position in another association.
"The vice president is a member of the (PDFA) Executive Committee. And he is also on the Thane district association committee," Arland said.
"They have also announced that Mr. Mathew Soosainathan as the treasurer. The PDFA can co-opt a member but only a life member can be either a president, or secretary or treasurer.
"And the elections are due for more than one and a half years. As such, they are only a care-taker body and they can only assist in day to day functions. They are not the General Body of PDFA.
"In any event, the stay order issued by the civil court in the 2018 case still holds good. They have no right to take action, not only on these clubs, but any club."
Chaudhary told TOI: "I am not on the committee of the Thane district association. I am only on the ad hoc committee formed by Western India Football Association to look after the Thane district body. There are also other members in the committee who are from other associations (affiliated to WIFA)."
Arland countered: "For that too he needs to take permission from the General Body. What is worse, he cannot keep one ground under PDFA in control and he is going to provide leadership for Thane association."
Chaudhary was not forthcoming on the question of not differentiating the member clubs and their representatives, nor on the absence of a show-cause notice before deciding to cease their memberships.
"You should have asked the clubs, 'where is the mention of show-cause in the constitution'. If they feel we have not followed due process, they can file a case like they did last time," he said.
Shanup Nair, the former president of CMS Falcons, said he and his colleagues at Football Association Pune (FAP) were forced to act only because their best efforts over the years to bring a change in the functioning of the PDFA had failed on multiple counts including holding double positions and showing disregard to dialogue with members.
"We have written to them. We have written to WIFA," said Nair. "We met with the PDFA officials once in the presence of (president) Mr. Vishwajeet Kadam. He tried to bring a compromise, but we couldn't accept certain things. When we insisted on rectifying the irregularities and taking action on the individuals concerned, he told us to back off."
