Home / News

AGM 2015

Minutes of the AGM of Bengal Club held at Shivaji Park Club premises on 26th Sep. 2015 at 7pm.

The meeting started with ….members and the President Shri Gautam Chatterjee on the Chair.

The President welcomed all members to the AGM. At the outset, he mentioned about the error of not putting the date on the AGM notice and apologised on behalf of the General Secretary. He then requested the Vice President to pay tribute to the departed soul of the senior most Trustee of the Club Late Dr. Pronabanada Biswas.

One minute silence was observed in honour of Dr. Biswas.

Thereafter, the President asked the General Secretary to proceed with the agenda of the meeting.

Agenda 1

The General Secretary pointed out that the previous General Secretary had not prepared the minutes of the last AGM held on 31st Jan. 2015. The minutes were put together by the present General Secretary from the noted points of the AGM of 31st Jan. 2015, left behind by the earlier Committee. The minutes thus prepared was read out and confirmed.

Agenda 2

The detailed audited accounts of 2014-15 were kept in the office of the Club from 21st Sep. 2015 to 25th Sep. 2015 for inspection. No queries were received.

The audited account of the year 2014-15 was presented to the house. Shri B.J.Chatterjee made some analysis of the previous year's expenditure and suggested that the Balance Sheet must have corresponding figures of the previous year, adjacent to the figures of the previous year. A cleaner format was also suggested by Mr. B.J.Chatterjee. The President requested Shri B.J.Chatterjee to provide the formatso that it can be passed on to the Auditors for implementation.

The adoption of the Audited Accounts for 2014-15 was proposed by Capt. Ashish Mukherjee and seconded by Shri Swapan Kumar Ghosh.

Agenda 3

The Budget for 2015-16 was presented. The President mentioned that this was a maiden effort and in the coming years the format would be improved upon. Shri MrinalKantiGuha appreciated the presentation of the Budget and mentioned that the Club was moving towards good Corporate Governance. He further mentioned that in the next year, the actual expenditure figures of the last year be presented side by side. The suggestion was accepted.

Shri Uday Sinha enquired whether it was not necessary for the Executive Committee to seek a prior approval of the General Body for a huge expenditure of repairs / renovation of the Club house. It was clarified by the President that the executive committee had strictly followed the Memorandum of Association (MOA) of the Club. Accordingly, as per Article 3 (g) and 9 (b), the consent of the Trustees was obtained before taking up the repair and renovation work amounting to about Rs. 50 lakhs. The President further clarified that the repairs, taken up after obtaining due permission of BMC Authorities, were timed in such a manner that there was minimum disruption in the Club Hall activities and no fixed deposit amount had to be pre-maturedly terminated. The House unanimously applauded the efforts taken by the Executive Committee.

Agenda 4

The General Secretary's report was read out. Shri UdaySinha requested the procedure of the appointment of the trustees in case of vacancy. The President clarified that any vacancy in the Board of Trustees was filled up as per Article 13 (b) of the MOA. Some members suggested an election of the Trustees periodically. The President stated that any suggestion in this regard along with a concept note on the suggested procedure may be forwarded to the General Secretary and the Executive Committee will discuss the same and take appropriate decision.

Agenda 5

The present auditor has been discharging his functions for more than 10 years for the Club. Taking into account the period of auditing, it was decided that a new auditor be appointed. Hence the M/s N.K.Rege& Co. was appointed as the auditor for the period 2015-16. It was assured that his fees will be less than the fees paid to the present auditor. The appointment was approved by the house.

Agenda 6

The President mentioned that Article 32 of the MOA gives the authority of amending the MOA to the General Body. List of Amendments to MOA was, thereafter, taken up one by one –

• The term Bombay, wherever used, to be substituted by Mumbai. This was unanimously approved.
• Article 5(Class of Membership) to be substituted by the following text: There shall be five classes of members, namely Patrons, Life Members, Ordinary Members, Honorary Members and Associate Members. Fees shall be as follows:
  • Patrons: Re 1 lakh or more at a time.
  • Life Members: Ordinary members paying life membership fees of Rs 3000 and donation of Rs 7000.
  • Ordinary Members: Admission fee of Rs. 300 and annual subscription of Rs. 1200.
  • Honorary Members: Distinguished persons from any community admitted at the discretion of the Executive Committee, without payment of any fee or subscription.
  • Associate Members: Persons other than Bengalees paying admission fee of Rs. 300 and annual subscription of Rs. 1200.
    This was unanimously approved.
• Article 10(f) to be substituted by the following text:

  Every member shall have 13 votes and no more. The distribution of these 13 votes should be as given below

  • 1 vote for the President
  • 1 vote for the Vice-President
  • 1 vote for the General Secretary
  • 1 vote for the Assistant General Secretary
  • 1 vote for the Treasurer
  • 5 votes for 5 other ordinary members of Shivaji Park
  • 3 votes for 3 other ordinary members of Parel Club

  It is understood that the vote in each case must be distributed and cannot be lumped together in favour of any single candidate

  This was unanimously approved.

• Article 10(k) to be added after Article 10(j) as follows:

  The President, Vice-President, General Secretary, Assistant General Secretary and the Treasurer would not be eligible to contest election for a post in which they have served two consecutive terms of 3 years each.

  This was unanimously approved.

• Article 12 to be substituted as follows:

  Only life members shall be eligible for voting in the election for the President, the Vice-President, the General Secretary, the Assistant General Secretary, the Treasurer and eight ordinary members of the Committee.

  This was unanimously approved.

• 6) Article 17(d) to be substituted as follows:

  Permanent Fund: Any amount received in lump exceeding Rs 100000/- except otherwise specified, shall generally go to Permanent Fund like Fixed Deposits.

  This was unanimously approved.

• 7) Article 17(e) to be substituted as follows:

  Current Fund: Amounts received by way of fees, subscriptions, donations, etc., other than specified in Clause 17 (d) above shall go to the Current Funds like Savings Deposit. The Committee shall have power to spend the same towards Club activities or maintenance of all properties- moveable or immoveable.

  This was unanimously approved.

• 8) Article 17(f) to be added after Article 17(e) as follows:

  All moneys received shall be deposited in Banks, in the name of the Club, to be operated by the Treasurer and in his absence by the President or Vice-President and countersigned by the General Secretary or the Assistant General Secretary. The Treasurer may, however, keep a sum not exceeding Rs. 20000/- to meet any emergency expenditure.

  This was unanimously approved.

• 9) In Article 23 (Annual General Meeting) the term "Election of Hony. Auditor" to be substituted by "Selection of an Auditor"

  This was unanimously approved.

• 10) Article 29 to be substituted as follows: The official year of the Club shall be 1st April to 31st March.

  This was unanimously approved.

• In the section "BENGAL CLUB LIBRARY", the monthly levy (Section 3a), Security Deposit (Section 3b), Penalty (Section 3g) shall be "as decided by the Committee".

  This was unanimously approved.

• The section dealing with IFL Committee Election and IFL Constitution shall be deleted.

  This was unanimously approved.

Agenda 7

President explained in details the repair /renovation of the Club house.

• The selection of period July-September – This period being the period of monsoon, it will have minimum impact on the income of the Club as far as asset usage is concerned and the renovated Club house will be ready before the Iconic Durga Puja of the Club.
• The approximate cost of the reapir / renovation is Rs. 50 lakhs.
• The completion of the work will be achieved in a couple of days from now, though the Club House is already usable.

Agenda 8

It was mentioned that the regular meetings of the Durga Puja in general could not be conducted as the Club house was undergoing extensive repair / renovation. However the sub-committee meetings of all the sub-committees of Durga Puja took place in the lawn.

President requested all the members to collect the donation books and souvenir forms for fund collection and he also mentioned that he intends not only to achieve the budgeted target of collection but to exceed it so that the expenditure incurred on the renovation of the Club house gets partially recovered.

Agenda 9

Any other matter with the permission of the Chair- Capt. Ashish Mukherjee requested life membership for his daughter. He stated that he is a life member and his late wife was also a life member. It was advised that in order to get a Life Membership, first an Ordinary Membership for a minimum period of one year has to be taken and thereafter the Executive Committee will decide granting Life Membership on payment of the requisite fees. However, it was mentioned that a patron member can be inducted any time.

Shri Pronab Das enquired about the membership offers to the Club due to the affiliation of the Bengal Club to MCA. He was advised that same will be examined and provided to him in due course.

Shri MrinalKantiGuha suggested augmenting the entertainment level in the Club and including English Literature Section in the library. He also requested to add to the indoor activities of the Club for the members.President welcomed the suggestions, promised a Club Day every week after renovation work gets completed and also promised sports for the members of the Club.

Shri ParagGuha, who had sent a letter to the General Secretary, one day prior to the AGM, wanting to raise a number of issues, raised only the issue of Election of Trustees. The President asked him and the concerned members to give a concept paper on the subject to the General Secretary which will b.

Shri Prashanta Das suggested that the AGM be covered by video recording. The suggestion was welcomed.

There being no other matter, the meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the Chair and the members at 8.45 PM