A backroom service provider has been toiling tirelessly for three decades for the city’s social clubs, which are reeling under a three-tier taxation regime and trade unionism.

The Association of Presidents of Clubs in Calcutta, a body of 10 leading clubs conceived in mid-March 1977 by late Bob Wright, Pearson Surita and Neil Gray, celebrated its Pearl (30th) anniversary late last year.

“The association is unique in India, indeed, in the world, and reflects the spirit of a club culture unmatched anywhere else,” stresses Khokan Mookerji, past convener and permanent invitee of the association. It is a voluntary body of people who have come together with the underlying objective of providing “a meaningful platform” to address issues of common concern and seek common solutions.

The member clubs are Bengal Club, Bengal Rowing Club, Calcutta Club, CC&FC, Calcutta Racket Club, Calcutta Swimming Club, Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Royal Calcutta Turf Club, Saturday Club and Tollygunge Club. “I must confess that our founding-fathers were prone to be elitist, because the 10 clubs were apparently picked on the basis of stature, member profile and vintage,” smiles Mookerji.

The novel presidents’ body has no seed capital, no source of funding or revenue stream, no staff, no formal memorandum of articles of bylaws and no formal ‘home’ except an address on its letterhead, courtesy a club (Saturday Club). It plays the role of a service provider with relevant inputs and data on taxes and legal issues, besides acting as a coordinator and facilitator.

From orchestrating reciprocal arrangements for members of the affected club in the event of a lockout to acting as a bridge between the clubs and the civic body, the association performs a gamut of tasks. “However, we have zealously guarded the independence of clubs,” says convener of the body Ashwani Kapur.

The association meets once a quarter, with meetings and dinners rotating across the clubs. The host club president presides over the meeting, which lasts an hour. Beyond 8pm, spouses are invited to join the cocktail-dinner.