The Bangalore Metro Reporter
LICENSE PLEASE
NEELAKANTAPPA & GANG RUNS BOGUS ASSOCIATION,
MINT MONEY
BANGALORE AIRPORT KSTDC TAXI DRIVERS’ WELFARE ASSOCIATION IS ILLEGAL.
Shaken by the total and detailed exposure of their day light robbery in ‘The Bangalore Metro Reporter’ News Paper, the Neelakantappa gang tried to stage manage the General Body meeting of the Association on 25th of May. The gang is also stage managing the audit of its accounts and the hard fact is that Neelakantappa gang is operating the Association which does not have any legal sanctity. Their ‘Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association’ is a bogus one and unregistered! How could the KSTDC, a government undertaking recognise this Association and what more abdicating some of its official powers to this bogus Association?
Wonder of wonders, the Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association which suffixes ‘Registered’ to its name, is taking everybody for a ride as the same is not registered with any government authority. For the last several years, this ‘set up’ Association has not conducted General Body Meetings, audit of accounts let alone elections! At the same time it has collected lakhs of rupees from the helpless owners cum taxi drivers. Even now, the Association is collecting call centre charges on its receipts. At every stage, the Taxi drivers are harassed and squeezed.
Neelakantappa gang and even the KSTDC use the name ‘Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association’. The KSTDC has recognised this Association in this name and even the receipts, Letter heads of the Association sports this name. Neelakantappa gang has collected Rs.16500/- from each cab owners cum drivers as membership fee. And till to day there are no official documents to prove the credentials of anybody as a Member of the Association!
And the hard fact is that there is no association by name ‘Bangalore Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association’ registered either with the Registrar of Societies or the Labour Commissioner. ‘The Bangalore Metro Reporter’ had made enquiries about the real status of this Association and the result is that this Association is not registered. How could Neelakantappa gang suppress this ‘all important’ fact from the government and the taxi drivers?
It is another matter that many of the Executive Committee members and even office bearers have tried to ascertain about the bonafides of this Association. Interestingly, the letter head, receipts application forms etc. printed by this association carry ‘Registered’ but not the registration number and the year of the registration which is a must for any registered society or Association! Putting the ‘Registered’ word after the name of the Association without actually being registered is not only cheating but a criminal offence as well. Till today, nobody except Neelakantappa and Siddaiah knew about the real facts.
One has to appreciate Neelakantappa gang for fooling the members, the KSTDC, the government and the general public.
What more, Neelakantappa gang has not bothered to hold general body and elections to this Association from the beginning. Only now, after our exposures and subsequent stories in other newspapers Neelakantappa is exposed for what he is. The Neelakantappa gang is hard pressed to explain their actions, nay their omissions and commissions. Moreover, the Taxi drivers have come to know the real facts after our exposure and as such have become restive. Sensing trouble for them in the long run if the law of the land is allowed to take its course, the Neelakantappa gang held a stage managed general body meeting and they are also getting the accounts audited (?). This was the first time the gang was going before the members (?) and defend their misuse, misappropriation et al.
Interestingly, to prevent more members attending the General body meeting and force the gang out of their posts, the gang purposely fixed 25th of May, for the general body meeting. The reason is simple. On 25th May, Meru cabs were scheduled to go in for a colour change and therefore many of its cabs will be out of action. The Easy Cab which has lost the licence is taking away its fleet. This makes the KSTDC Taxies getting more demand and there will a few members who would skip their duties to attend the General body. This could enable the gang to have their say and continue with their loot.
Curiously, the Neelakantappa gang issued ID cards and members had to visit the Association’s unauthorised office in Madhuvan Lodge to get the ID. Shockingly, the gang did not give notice about the general body meeting to the members. All they did was display a notice in the KSTDC counter at BIAL about the general body meeting. This is highly illegal as the rules stipulate that every member should be given the notice through post and that too 15 days in advance along with the audit report and the agenda. Tomorrow any member can question these serious lapses and can even get the general body postponed through courts of law.
Interestingly, the venue selected was Kannada Sahitya Parishat’s auditorium in Chamarajpet. The auditorium is very small and cannot accommodate more than 100 people while the Association has more than 600 members. Moreover, had the venue be fixed at Yelahanka - Devanahalli route, more members could have attended the meeting. It is another matter that most of the members do not know about the general body meeting itself as not even a single notice was sent by the gang to the members. Infact, the gang has just started issuing the ID to the members and nobody knows the exact number of members of this unauthorised association!
But, finally, expecting a backlash, Neelakantappa, Chickmath and their gang, having called a meeting gang kept away themselves from the meeting. More than 130 members of the association had gathered for attending the meeting and they went ahead with the meeting themselves in the absence of Neelakantappa and gang.
Interestingly, this unauthorised association functions from unauthorised place other than the address shown in its letter heads - receipts etc. This Association displays its address as ‘-1418, AECS Layout, E Block, Kundalahalli, Opp. Brookes Field, Bangalore-37’ but functions from a room in the Madhuvan Hotel.
One understands that there are laws governing the functions of the Association in the state. Is it too much to expect the law taking its own course in respect of the present bogus association?
The General Body Meeting of Bangalore Airport KSTDC Tax Drivers Welfare Association (Regd) was scheduled to be held on 25th of this month. The interesting fact about this Association is that it is not a registered one. As per the information provided by the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Division-3, there is no association registered under this name!
But there is one more Association registered in the Labour Commissioner Office. The name of the Association so registered is “Bangalore Airport Pre Paid Taxi Drivers Welfare Association”, registered as No.ACL-3/DRT/TUA/CR-01/2002-03 dated 4.4.2002.
Curiously, the addresses of both the Associations are one and the same, No.1418, AECS Layout, Opp. Brooke Field, E-Block, Kundalahalli Post, Bangalore - 560037.
One can suffix the word ‘Registered’ in case of the Prepaid Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. It is legal. But the same can not be the case with Taxi Drivers Welfare Association; it is not a registered Association. Moreover, Neelakantappa gang has collected millions of rupees from the Taxi Drivers on various pretexts and is now collecting ‘call centre’ charges from the drivers in the name of the bogus Association. All these are criminal offences.
It is time that government to act in this regard. And the Neelakantappa gang should clarify which is the original one they are operating! May be they are operating in the name bogus Association to avoid the legal consequences!
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