Council

Composition and Election:

  • The Council shall consist of not less than seven and not more than fifteen members. A member of the Council will hereinafter be referred to as ‘Council Member’.
  • The office bearers of the Council shall comprise President, Vice-President, Secretary, Joint Secretary, Treasurer and other Council Members.
  • The Council Members shall be elected every three years by the Members at the Annual General Meeting of the Society. The office bearers of the Council shall be elected by the Council Members amongst themselves.
  • No Council Member shall hold more than one office of the Council simultaneously.
  • The term of the office of the Council shall be for a period of three years unless it is dissolved/ terminated early under unforeseen circumstances.
  • After election, the old Council will continue to function till the new Council takes over charge, which shall under no circumstances be later than 30 days from the date of election.
  • The resignation and removal of any Council Member shall be dealt with as prescribed hereinbefore for other members.

Meetings:

  • The Council shall, from time to time, hold its meetings as deemed necessary, but not less than four times a year.
  • At least seven days notice of the meeting specifying the place, date, time and general nature of business to be transacted shall be given to every Council Member.
  • Any four Council Members may requisition a meeting and the Secretary shall summon the same within seven days, failing which the President may do so. No business other than specified in the notice shall be transacted at such meeting.
  • Emergency meetings may be called on 24 hours notice.
  • One-third of the total Council Members personally present shall constitute the quorum. If a quorum is not reached within 30 minutes of the notified time, Council Members present shall adjourn the meeting.

Procedure of the Meetings:

The President, or in his absence Vice-President, shall preside over all meetings of the Council. In absence of both the President and Vice-President, the Council Members present shall elect a Chairman for the meeting. In case of equality of votes, President or in his absence Vice-President or the said Chairman shall have a second or casting vote in addition to his/her own vote.

Powers and Responsibilities of the Council:

The Council shall have general power of management, supervision and conduct over all the affairs of the Society and, in particular, shall discharge the following duties:

  • summon the Annual General Meeting of the Society,
  • appoint, suspend, remove or discharge sub-committees, employees, workers, agents or delegates with such powers, duties, terms and remunerations as may be considered necessary or expedient,
  • accept donation, gift, subscription, funds or loans for the fulfillment of the objectives of the Society,
  • accept, acquire, sell, lease, mortgage or otherwise dispose of or deal with any movable or immovable property for the Society,
  • keep proper accounts of the Society and open, operate and close bank accounts in the name of the Society in one or more scheduled banks,
  • prepare plans and programmes of the Society,
  • make rules, regulations and bye-laws as deemed necessary and proper,
  • empower the Secretary or any other Member to act on behalf of the Council,
  • conduct any other business not specified herein for the attainment of the objectives of the Society.

Safe Custody of Properties

  • The Council shall be responsible for the safe custody of funds, properties and assets of the Society.
  • The funds of the Society shall be kept in banks/Post Offices/mutual funds and be invested in any security specified under Section 20 of the Indian Trust Act, 1882 and as per provision of Section 11(5) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Books of Accounts and Inspection:

The books of accounts and other statutory books shall be kept at the Registered Office of the Society and shall be open to inspection by the Members at such time and place as the Council directs on the written request made by any Member.

Accounting Year:

The accounting year of the Society shall be from the 1st day of April each year to the 31st day of March of the following year.

General Meetings:

  • There shall be three types of general meetings : (i) Annual, (ii) Special and (iii) Extraordinary.
  • One-third of the total Members personally present shall constitute the quorum. If a quorum is not reached within 30 minutes of the notified time, Members present shall adjourn the meeting.
  • The Chairman of the meeting shall decide the manner and method of voting at the outset of the meeting.
  • The Society shall call the Annual General Meeting once every year and not more than 15 months shall pass between two successive Annual General Meetings. At least 14 days notice specifying the place, date and time shall be given to every member of the Society.
  • Notice of Motions in the Annual General Meeting shall be given in writing to the Secretary at least 15 days prior to the Council Meeting preceding the Annual General Meeting for that year. The Secretary shall place it before the next Council Meeting and have it circulated amongst the members along with the Agenda of the Annual General Meeting.
  • The business to be transacted at the Annual General Meeting shall be:
    • to confirm the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting and Special and/or Extraordinary General Meetings, if any,
    • to adopt, with or without modification, the reports of the working of the Society for the previous year ended,
    • to pass the audited accounts of the Society for the previous year ended,
    • to appoint qualified Auditor or Auditors,
    • to transact such business as fixed by the Council,
    • to transact such other business as may be brought forward by any Member in the prescribed manner,
    • to conduct general elections.
  • A Special General Meeting may be convened by the Council at any time in view of urgency of the matter. At least 7 days notice shall be given to every Member for the Special General Meeting. Members may also request the Council for Special General Meeting by placing a requisition signed by two-thirds of the total Members. In that case, the Council shall convene a Special General Meeting within a month from the receipt of such notice. In default by the Council, the requisitionists may hold such meeting provided no business other than those specified in the notice shall be transacted.
  • The Council may direct the Secretary to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting for consideration of addition, alteration or amendment of the Memorandum/Regulations of the Society. At least 7 days notice along with the draft of proposed change shall be sent to the Members before the meeting. The resolution for change, amendment, etc., of the Memorandum/Regulations shall be carried out if accepted by three-fourths of the Members present at the meeting.

Duties of the Office Bearers:

President:

The President shall

  • preside over all meetings of the Society,
  • advise the Society on all points of dispute and generally look after the interest of the Society,
  • take all disciplinary actions such as removal, dismissal, etc., in consultation with the Council,
  • advise the Secretary in any matter requiring urgent attention,
  • call emergency meetings.

Vice-President:

In the absence of the President, Vice-President shall perform all the duties of the President.

Secretary:

The Secretary shall

  • function as the Executive Head of the Society,
  • convene all meetings of the Society,
  • maintain minute books of all meetings,
  • issue general circulars and notices,
  • carry out all correspondence on behalf of the Society,
  • receive all applications for membership which shall be placed before the Council,
  • involve in financial management of the Society and sign and give pay order on all bills for payment,
  • ensure compliance with statutory requirements.

Joint Secretary:

In the absence of the Secretary, Joint Secretary shall perform all the duties of the Secretary

Treasurer:

The Treasurer shall

  • evolve guidelines for fiscal policy and financial administration of the Society in consultation with the Secretary,
  • operate bank accounts jointly as one of any two of the following office bearers : President, Secretary and Treasurer,
  • collect and receive all sorts of subscriptions, donations, grants, etc., and issue receipts,
  • maintain and keep cash book and other such accounts as necessary,
  • get the accounts of the Society audited by a Chartered Accountant,
  • prepare the budget of the Society in consultation with the Secretary for consideration by the Council.

Maintenance and Audit of Accounts:

The Society shall maintain books of accounts as required under Section 15 (1) (a), (b) of the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961. The accounts shall be audited by a duly qualified auditor as stated in Section 15 (2) of the said Act.

Suit and Legal Proceedings:

All suits and legal proceedings by or against the Society shall be in the name of the Secretary or such person as appointed by the Council.

Alteration of Memorandum and Regulations:

The Memorandum and Regulations may be altered, modified, rescinded or added to by special resolutions passed by three-fourths of the Members present in a general meeting called for the purpose.

The Council shall have powers to make, alter, modify or rescind such bye-laws and rules as may be considered necessary in the interest of the Society.

Dissolution of the Society:

Subject to the provisions of Sections 24 and 27 of the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 or any statutory modifications thereof, the Society may be dissolved by a resolution to that effect passed by three-fourths of the Members present in a general meeting called for the purpose. The said meeting shall also decide the manner of disbursement of funds and assets of the Centre, if any, after dissolution.

We, the undersigned Council Members of the Society, do hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the Resolutions of the Society.

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