One of the city’s most prestigious private athletic clubs, The National Sports Club of India (NSCI) has been caught up in a row with the BMC lately. It has been made known that the club, which is situated on a prime 18-acre sea-facing municipal plot in Worli, owes the BMC ₹61.7 crore in property tax.
These dues have not been cleared for seven years.
Some members have also alleged the management of misuse and mishandling of funds and also told that the club has spent Rs 17 crore on Indulge, a new bar within its premises.
In addition to this, the BMC has issued two notices for breach of lease condition and also building violations. No action has been taken so far.
The BMC's sanctioned plan shows that only the dome portion of the club has municipal occupancy. But two large areas on the plan marked as "sports hall" have been converted into banquet halls, and another area marked for storing equipment has been converted into a 200-seater theatre.
Among the violations listed were structures on the ground floor touching the compound wall in the open space in front of Entrance D and T-3 Gate, a huge wall of about 20ft built in the front open space of Palace Hall/Ball Room and huge monsoon sheds near the swimming pool area.
Jayantilal Shah, the president of NSCI, who has taken the matter to the concerned department for reconsideration, claimed that property tax has been levied at a much higher rate. Regarding the bar, the NSCI managing committee had to say that they had assigned the work to the contractor who quoted the lowest rate.
In an earlier notice, BMC said the NSCI had entered into an agreement with Cineyug Worldwide, which is ‘falsely titled as an 'operation and management agreement’ to use the dome stadium for non-sporting events.
"Cineyug Worldwide is not connected with sports sector nor is a registered organisation. It is engaged in entertainment business. Cineyug has already organised several entertainment events which are not categorised under ‘sports activities,’ said the notice. It further said this was a violation of the lease agreement with the BMC which prohibits NSCI from assigning or transferring the premises or any part of it without prior consent of the municipal commissioner.
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