Kennel Club of India secretary violated government norms: Report

CHENNAI: The secretary of the

Kennel Club

of India (

KCI

), Chennai, and his wife, violated

government norms

and its own bylaws, the Chennai Central District registrar has said in a report.


Secretary C V Sudharshan and his wife Rukmani used funds of the KCI, one of the country’s most famous purebred

dog

registries, for paying honorariums and ex-gratia, registrar N Sekar said in his September 20 report after an inquiry. The two had been instructed to credit the amount to the KCI’s account, the report added.

When contacted, Sudharshan said he had approached the Madras high court a few days ago seeking a direction to quash the said report. The inquiry was taken up following complaints from six KCI members including D Krishnamoorthy, alleging various mismanagements in its affairs including misappropriation of funds. Sudharshan had for more than three decades been the KCI’s secretary and treasurer as well as the editor of its official magazine, Indian Kennel Gazette (IKG), the complaint said. He was receiving Rs 8.76 lakh per annum as the magazine editor, it added.

“A personal secretary, a driver and a car were also provided, but were largely used for his [Sudharshan’s] private business of distributing dog food. The KCI also pays his electricity charges and mobile phone bills,” said the complaint. The decision to pay an honararium to the editor of the magazine as well as bear the income tax component were not placed for approval before the committee at the KCI annual general meeting, it added.

In his response to the registrar’s queries on these charges, Sudharshan said the KCI committee had approved the decision to give the honorarium and bear the I-T component besides the other mentioned expenses.

The complainants also alleged that Sudharshan had made his wife Rukmani Chief Executive Officer and that she received a good salary. In gross misuse of authority, she allowed dogs to be imported from abroad and brought them in for shows without proper documents, which adversely affected chances of genuine owners, they added.

Sudharshan told the registrar in his response that it was not the KCI’s job to ascertain the source of import. “If a dog is produced with proper papers, it will be registered with the KCI. Once it is registered, it can participate in any of the dog shows that are conducted,” he added. The KCI committee which including Krishnamoorth had approved the an exgratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to Rukmani when she resigned from her post, he said. The registrar said he had heard views of both sides before preparing his report and that the said actions were in contravention of Section 25 of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.


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