Calcutta, Sept 21 :    Calcutta, Sept 21:  Tollygunge Club is, for all practical purposes, offering VRS to its elder members. Established in 1895 and ranked among the top 20 clubs of the world, the idyllic Tolly greens might see history in the making when a special resolution comes up for discussion and voting at the annual general meeting on Friday evening. The resolution involves offering 'dormant' members of the club an exit clause - 50 per cent of the current annual membership fee of around Rs 50,000 - as a payout for returning the club membership. 'This is entirely voluntary and the plan is to hand out these memberships to younger people, waiting in the wings, who would make optimum use of the facilities,' club president P.K. Dutt said on the eve of the AGM. A two-thirds majority will be required to pass the special resolution at the AGM. But Dutt seemed 'confident' that it would go through, allowing the only 'country club' of its kind in India to ensure that the old order would pass, giving way to the new. The move to ease out idle members - there are apparently 900 of them who don't use the club facilities at all - has been prompted by the Tolly's 'soaring costs and also by the fact that it has only 1,500 permanent members, which is the ceiling,' according to a senior official. Other categories, like special members, corporate members and reciprocal members, add up to another 1,500. 'Earlier, there was a steady flow of members in and out of the club. But now, things have stagnated and we have members who have been around for years and whose children are now members of the club. We're sure that a lot of these people, who are very old or are members of a few other clubs or even stay far from the Tolly premises, would like to make way for others,' felt Dutt. While corporate members are likely to welcome the concept, with a permanent membership of Tolly being one of the most sought-after titles on the city's social circuit, some older members do seem to harbour serious reservations. 'It sure hurts when the club you have been frequenting for years suddenly offers you a payout,' said an elderly member, on condition of anonymity, soon after receiving his 'invitation' to Friday's AGM. The club president emphasised that the voluntary exit option is not 'selling club membership', and is not linked to nominating any incoming member either. 'It's a simple method to help sustain Tolly,' said Dutt. 'It's not a bad idea at all,' agreed Bob Wright, former Tolly boss and permanent resident of the club. 'I guess it makes a lot of sense to allow those waiting in the long queue, running into hundreds, a look-in,' he added. In case the resolution is not passed, it 'would make a fairly strong case for induction of new members to meet spiralling costs', said a club official.