SBWS Takes a Magnanimous Route
A court case no.Ex.229/2018, original suit number CS/SCJ/646/2017, filed by one Mr. Vidyut Arora, r/o S 211 SF & Mr. Ravi Shankar r/o S 424, GF against S Block welfare Society, finally ended on 7th Aug.2023 & disposed of by the Hon’ble court of CJ-03SE district, Charu Asiwal.
A brief history of the case, which lasted almost for six years.
As usual, elections for SBWS were held in April, 2017 with high pitched canvassing by two parties. Team led by Sunil Goel/Pankaj Wadhawan & other members, lost the elections, on major seats. They could win only three seats out of eight, which were contested. Sunil Goel, who contested for the post of President against MK Gupta, lost with the highest margin. Elections are held in SBWS after every two years.
Prior to this, one of their team members, Pankaj Wadhawan had also lost elections in 2013 & 2015 (Lone opposing contestant).
Not satisfied with the outcome of election results in 2017, Vidyut Arora & Ravi Shankar, filed a suit in Saket district courts in 2017 along with couple of other applications, levelling serious charges against the returning officer, Brig Hardev Singh. Many of the applications filed by these people were rejected & dismissed by various courts. However, Saket court ordered re-elections in the year 2018 with riders & imposed a cost of Rs Seven thousand on the DH.
Not satisfied with the orders of the district court, these people filed an appeal in the Hon’ble Delhi High Court. DHC ordered reelections in the year 2019 with riders & appointed Justice (R) Sh Garg of Delhi High court as the court commissioner & Tahsildar, Mehrauli as the R.O for conducting & overseeing the elections. Many objections filed by Vidut Arora thru advocate Sunil Goel were brushed aside.
Finally, elections were held on 1st March, 2020, under the supervision of court appointed custodians. Sunil Goel & his team lost all the eight seats with big & decisive margins. Members of SBWS elected the team led by MK Gupta, giving them all the eight seats this time.
SBWS had to spend Rs six & a half lakhs on fighting this case for defending themselves, over six years. The main expense was for paying the fees to local Commissioners in Saket Courts & DHC & for paying fees to the SDM office for RO.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shivam Goel, advocate for SBWS represented the case in Saket Courts on a pro bono basis.
In my opinion, the case was absolutely uncalled for & in bad taste. The reelections would have been held in normal course in 2019. Both the parties wasted lot of money.
Again, the elections were held in 2022 & there was no contest. MK Gupta & team were declared reelected for another term of two years.
Somewhere in the year 2020, after a decisive defeat, Ravi Shankar, floated another RWA with regd address of his residence. He declared himself as the president & Pankaj Wadhawan as Secretary of the outfit.
All of us know the kind of work, which this unit has done for the benefit of residents!!
A big question mark? However, they have divided S Block, creating lot of animosity. Over the past few years, they kept on filing complaints against the duly elected mother organization, viz. SBWS. We can only say & request residents like Ravi Shankar to become members of SBWS & believe in the democratic process of elections. The best team shall be elected by our intelligent & well-informed members.
Many of the founders of this parallel outfit, calling themselves SBR Community, have already left them & joined SBWS. Thanks to all the members for continuously supporting our team since 2015.
As the old saying goes, Unity Is Strength. A united block can do wonders. S Block is one of the best blocks in South Delhi, things can improve further if all residents join hands & strengthen SBWS.
I would also like to mention here that most of the funds required for court cases were funded & contributed by our well-wishers. Almost zero amount was spent from the Membership fees.
A big thank you to all, who stood by us in the last six years, during the court case.
