Now, Wait 37 Years to Join the ‘Elite’ Gymkhana, Delhi Golf Club

The waiting fees has also been hiked up to Rs 7.5 lakh.

(Photo Courtesy: www.delhigymkhana.org)

If you want to get into two of the national capital’s elite-ist clubs, you may have to wait a lifetime – 37 years to be precise and pay a fee of Rs 7.5 lakh to even be considered for membership at Delhi Gymkhana and Delhi Golf Club, as India Today reported.

Till 2016, the wait at Gymkhana was around 25 years which has now become 37 years and nearly 3,000 applicants are on the wait list. The Delhi Golf Club is also setting up nearly identical rules for getting membership.

The steep fee hike is the most pinching for those waiting to be admitted as members to the club. Each year, only 60-70 members are admitted to each club depending on vacancies.

A wait list applicant, who had applied in 1994 for membership, received the following correspondence from Gymkhana:

“The waiting period fee, which was earlier fixed at Rs 1 lakh, is now raised to Rs 7.5 lakh. Failing to pay within 30 days of receiving the written communication, the name would be removed from the wait list period.”

In case, you do not wish to pay the above-mentioned amount, kindly let us know and collect your initial deposit.” Insiders say the “unexpected” waiting fee hike has been “enforced to declog the wait list as many are expected to take their initial deposit refund.

Air Commodore Harjit S Sassan, Gymkhana Secretary

The fees for government servants is Rs 4.5 lakh and for non-government employees, it’s Rs 18.91 lakh. The hiked fees may deter some applicants and aspirants and make them take back their money and quit, as Gymkhana insiders hinted.

Started in 1913, the total membership of the of the club has risen to 14,000 and nearly six per cent had taken their membership in 1950s and 1960s.

“Green card holders” or those dependants who have turned 21 and become primary members are also being blamed for the overcrowding of the club, with nearly 6,000 on the club’s books.

Ideally, they should have come through the normal wait route to let the first of the wait list move ahead. In the non-government category, the first wait list is since 1979, while in the government sector, it is as early as 1997.

Source

The Delhi Golf Club, which has similar membership pattern, is not hiking the waiting fees which is 10 per cent of the membership fees that comes to Rs 1 lakh.

We have no such plans as Gymkhana and this is a big relief to the 3,000-odd members. Nearly the same number is in the waiting, which is now between 35 to 40 years.

Top Golf Club Office Bearer

India International Centre (IIC) and India Habitat Centre (IHC), the other two elite institutions of the city are different in this regard.

A top office bearer at IIC said, “we don't charge a waiting fee” and has 6,500 members currently. In 2014, when IIC last opened up applications, it received 14-15,000 applications, but only admitted 1,200.

We don’t have a waiting period, nor do we charge any fee other than application fee. We open memberships as and when we get vacancies. Last time, the IHC got about 8,000 to 9,000 applications and it filled about 600 to 700 membership slots.

Raj Liberhan, Former Director, IHC