Constitution of Hernia Society of India
Name
This Society shall be known as the “Hernia Society of India (HSI) – National Chapter of Asia Pacific Hernia Society” hereinafter referred to as the “Society”.
Office
· The registered office of the Society shall be situated in Delhi. The Society will be registered in Delhi.
· Honorary Secretary of the office will function from his place and will shift when the new Secretary is elected.
· Honorary Treasurer office will be situated in Delhi and will shift when a new Hony. Treasurer is elected.
· Accounting year for Income Tax purpose will be from 1st April of the year to 31st March of the following year.
Place Of Business
Its place of business shall be at “Institute of Minimal Access, Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, Max Healthcare Institute, New Delhi (India)”. The Society shall carry out its activities from New Delhi.
Founding Members
The Founding Members, who credited and approved these bylaws: Dr. Pradeep Chowbey (New Delhi), Dr. H G Doctor (Mumbai), Dr. T E Udwadia (Mumbai) , Dr. V N Shrikhande (Mumbai), Dr. Rajesh Khullar (New Delhi), Dr. A K Kriplani (New Delhi), Dr. Prasanna K Reddy (Chennai), Dr. K Ravindranath (Hyderabad), Dr. Kuldip Singh (Ludhiana), Dr. M G Bhat (Bangalore), Dr. S K Bhansali (Mumbai), Dr. Praveen Bhatia (New Delhi), Dr. John Thanakumar (Coimbatore), Dr. J B Agarwal (Mumbai), Dr. Jyotsna Kulkarni (Pune), Dr. Om Tantia (Kolkata), Dr. K N Srivastava (New Delhi), Dr. S Ashok (Chennai), Dr. R Ardhanari (Madurai), Dr. H Ramesh (Cochin), Dr. M Ramesh (Bangalore)
Objective
The object of the Society shall be to promote and advance the teaching and research in hernia surgery in India and the Indian subcontinent. The Society may :
· Encourage and advance the study and practice of hernia surgery.
· Promote exchange of views amongst surgeons who will be the members of this Society.
· Encourage scientific research and experimental work.
· Organise conferences, seminars, symposium, workshops etc. for the spread of knowledge and information on hernia surgery.
· Provide continuing educational programmes for post graduate students and practicing surgeons.
· Organise Zonal, National and International conferences, academic activities and workshops at regular intervals, with the help of experienced faculty members from India as well as abroad and by involving corporate members.
· Organise exhibitions of surgical and allied equipment and instruments which are required for hernia surgery.
· Organise printing of appropriate literature undertake making of video cassettes or CDs to disseminate information on this subject.
· Awards certificates of attendance and participation at the end of training workshops. To grant out of funds of society, scholarships, prizes and awards to the members of this society and academicians for furtherance of aims and objects of endohernia surgery.
· The Society may make bye laws, rules, regulations and guidelines of the society for its smooth running. The Society is authorised to delete, change or add bye-laws, rules, regulations or guidelines when required.
· President and Hon. Secretary will manage the activities of the Society on day to day basis with its framework.
Membership
Membership of the Society shall be in five categories:
– Honorary Member
– Life Member
– Associate member
– International member
– Corporate Member
Eligibility
(a) Honorary Member
· The Honorary Member would have made outstanding contributions to the progress of hernia surgery in the Indian subcontinent or be a worldwide person of distinction.
· The Executive Committee may confer an Honorary Membership to any person who, in the opinion of the Committee, has rendered valuable services to the Society.
· Prior to granting Honorary Membership, the Executive Committee members shall first propose the name of the person at the Executive Committee Meeting, and upon the said Meeting accepting the proposal, the said Honorary Membership may be bestowed.
· Life Members also will be eligible to propose any person suitable for Honorary Membership to the Executive Committee for its consideration.
· Honorary Members shall not be required to pay any entrance fee or subscription fee.
· Honorary Members shall have no voting rights and shall not be eligible to hold office in the Executive Committee or to participate in the management of the Society.
(b) Life Member
· Life Members may be elected by application from qualified specialists who are involved in the hernia surgery certified by a National Board or Medical Council of India.
· Each applicant shall be proposed by one Life Member and seconded by another Life Member. The application should be sent to the Honorary Secretary.
· The Executive Committee will decide on the application for Life Membership by a simple majority vote.
· Life Members are eligible to vote at General Body Meetings and hold office in the Executive Committee.
· Life Members will not be eligible for honorary Membership.
· Member should be a life member for three years before becoming eligible for Executive committee member.
(c) Associate member:
– A postgraduate student pursuing surgical training (MS or DNB (Gen. Surgery) can apply to become an associate member. – Each applicant shall be proposed by one Life Member and seconded by another Life Member. The application should be sent to the Honorary Secretary.
· The Executive Committee will decide on the application for Associate Membership by a simple majority vote.
· Associate Members are not eligible to vote at General Body Meetings and hold office in the Executive Committee.
· Associate Members will not be eligible for honorary Membership.
– The associate member shall pay the difference between the life membership fee and the fee already paid after obtaining the postgraduate qualification and become a life member.
(d) International member:
– A surgeon from outside India holding a postgraduate surgical qualification can become an international member.
The Executive Committee will decide on the application for International Membership by a simple majority vote.
· International Members are not eligible to vote at General Body Meetings and hold office in the Executive Committee.
(e) Corporate Member
· Corporate Members may be elected by application from companies with an interest in practice of hernia surgery.
· The Executive Committee will decide on the application for Corporate Membership by a simple majority vote.
· The Corporate member should have active participation in a business or industry that manufactures, distributes or services equipment, material or supplied required for or related to the practice of hernia surgery.
· The Corporate member will actively participate for publication of educational or scientific information pertaining to the practice of hernia surgery.
· The Corporate member shall actively participate and support medical research and education in hernia surgery.
· Each Corporate Member shall be represented by one nominee from the said Company.
· Corporate Members are eligible to attend and vote at General Body Meetings
Subscription
The Life Membership fee shall be Rs. 5900/- (including GST of 18%) for Life Members. The Life Membership Fee for Corporate Members shall be Rs. 1,00,000/-. The Life Membership of Members and Corporate Members may be subjected to review by the Executive Committee at regular intervals and approved at the General Body meeting. Adoption of subscription changes will be by a simple majority vote at general Body Meeting. The members will be encouraged to become a Life Member of APHS also by sending the form and membership fee of US$ 100.00 to the office.
Termination Of Membership
· A Life Member may be terminated by the Executive Committee if it deems that:
· A Member has been convicted of professional misconduct.
· A Member conducts himself in writing, speech or behaviour in a manner that in the view of the Committee is prejudicial or injurious to the reputation or good standing of the Society.
· Termination of a Corporate Membership shall only be decided at General Body Meeting by a majority of members present.
General Body
· The management of the Society is vested in Executive Committee which will hold a General Body Meeting of the members presided over by the President.
· The General Body Meeting shall be held at least once a year during the national congress.
· The Honorary Secretary shall be responsible for arrangement of the General Body meeting. The agenda for the meeting shall be circulated at least eight weeks before the date of the meeting. The following points, among others, will be considered at the General Body meeting:
– The annual report by the Honorary Secretary
– The previous financial year’s account by the Hony. Treasurer
– Where applicable, the election of office-bearers, Internal and External Auditors for the following term
– Decision on the venues of the future Congresses, Workshops and Zonal meetings
– Matters concerning Corporate Members
· Any member who wishes to place an item on the agenda of a General Body Meeting may do so provided he gives notice to the Honorary Secretary four weeks before the meeting is due to be held.
· At least one-third of the total voting membership present at a General Body Meeting shall form a quorum. Proxies shall not be constituted as part of the quorum.
· In the event of there being no quorum at the commencement of a General Body Meeting, the meeting shall be adjourned for half an hour and should the number then present be insufficient to form a quorum, those present shall be considered a quorum, but they shall have no power to amend any of the existing Constitution.
Management And Executive Committee
· The Executive Committee shall consist of Founder Presidents of APHS & H.S.I., President, Past President, President Elect, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, Zonal Vice-Presidents (5) and Zonal Executive Committee members (3) from each zone.
· The term of office for the Executive Committee members shall be from the close of the H.S.I. National Congress at which they are elected to the close of the Congress after 2 years, at which their term expires.
· The term of office bearer will be as follows:-
– President, President-Elect, Past President — 2 years only and not eligible again
– Honorary Secretary — 2 years term, eligible for 2 consecutive terms
– Honorary Treasurer — 2 years term, eligible for 2 consecutive terms
– Zonal Vice President — 2 years term, eligible for 2 consecutive terms
– Executive Members — 2 years term, eligible for 2 consecutive terms
· The Executive Committee may co-opt not more than 2 members who, in their opinion, may be useful in the management of the Society. Co-opted members will have no voting right in the executive committee meetings.
· The Executive Committee shall act on behalf of General body between meetings. The Executive Committee shall take decisions as it deems necessary to fulfil the objectives of the Society. Decisions may be reached by mail correspondence, computer correspondence, by teleconference or in person. All major decisions taken by the Executive Committee shall be reported to the General Body by email or airmail. The General Body, at a duly constituted meeting, has a right to change or revise action taken by the Executive Committee by a two-thirds or greater vote of those present.
· All Executive members preferably should be Life member of APHS also.
· The Executive Committee shall meet at least once a year and at such times as deemed necessary by the President for the conduct of the Society’s business. Notice of the meeting shall not be less than eight weeks.
· Any member of the Executive Committee absenting himself from three meetings consecutively without satisfactory explanations shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the Executive Committee and a successor may be co-opted by the Executive Committee to serve until the next General Body Meeting.
· The Executive Committee would nominate, delegate and appoint representatives to international conferences, congresses and meetings.
· The Executive Committee may raise at any time, in any form or manner, and for any amount, for the purposes of the Society, any sums of money in such manner as they think fit. However, the Executive Committee shall not incur any liability or otherwise, on behalf of its members, beyond the net asset value of the Society.
· The Executive Committee may appoint any member of the Society as a member of a sub-committee as may be deemed necessary for the management of the Society and confer to him such powers and duties as the Executive Committee may decide.
· The Executive Committee may at its discretion, issue statements to the press or grant interviews on matters pertaining to the Society. No individual member of the Society shall, except with the approval of the Executive Committee, release statements or grant interviews on behalf of the Society.
· The Executive Committee shall be responsible to convene General Body Meetings as the circumstances deem necessary and in compliance with the other provisions of this Constitution.
· The duties of the Executive Committee are to organize and supervise the daily activities of the Society and to make decisions on matters affecting its running when the General Body Meeting is not sitting. It may not act contrary to the expressed wishes of the General Body Meeting without prior reference to it and must always remain subordinate to the General Body Meetings.
· Decisions within the Executive Committee at all meetings should be by a simple majority. In the event of a tie, the President will have the casting vote.
· The Executive Committee of the Society would raise funds from sponsorship by companies in the medical field or other charitable organisations.
· The Organising Committee of the Annual Meeting will deposit all the savings to the parent body of HSI.
· The first Executive committee may work as ad hoc committee for 5 years to establish the society and then elections to be held for selections of executives.
Process Of Nomination Of The New Executive Committee
· The following shall be selected by a process of nomination: President, President Elect., Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, 5 Zonal Vice President (one from each zone), and 15 Executive Committee Members (three from each zone). They shall all be Life Members of H.S.I..
· The “Nominating Committee” will be composed of Founder President of APHS, Founder President of H.S.I., President, Past Presidents, President Elect, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer. This committee shall put forth to the Executive committee nominations for the post of President Elect, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, Zonal Vice-Presidents and Zonal Executive Members.
· The candidate proposed for President Elect should have demonstrated capabilities of leadership and effective services to the Society. In addition, he must have held an official post in Executive committee of H.S.I. and should be a member of H.S.I. for more than 6 years.
· The candidate proposed for Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and Zonal Vice-Presidents should be of good standing in the field of hernia and must have held an official post in Executive committee of H.S.I. and should be a member of H.S.I. for more than 4 years.
· The candidate proposed for Zonal Executive Member should be a member of H.S.I. for more than 2 years and must have attended at least one Annual conference of H.S.I..
· Every member of H.S.I. is entitled to propose a candidate for the office bearers, but the Executive Committee won’t be obliged to accept these proposals. Each member of the Executive Committee also is entitled to propose a candidate to the “Nominating Committee”.
· Upon the close of the nominating period (usually not later than 90 days before the National Congress) the Executive Committee shall review and validate all nominations received to verify that the qualifications and requirements for the relevant positions have been met. Nominees not meeting the relevant qualifications and requirements may be omitted from the list; otherwise all qualified nominees shall be placed on the list. The Executive Committee in addition may also nominate its own / suitable qualified nominees for any or all available positions to ensure that qualified and deserving nominees for each available position are presented on the final list of candidates and to help ensure balance among the candidates regarding, geographic area or other relevant factors. For the position of President Elect, the Executive Committee may interact with the candidate to apprise him / her of nomination. There shall be no limit to the number of qualified candidates presented for any available position.
· The Executive Committee will vote, if necessary, by secret ballot, to choose the candidates to be put forth to the General body. The General body is not obligated to accept the recommendations of the Executive Committee and may accept further nominations from the floor for qualified nominees. If more than one candidate is nominated for a post, a secret ballot voting will take place during the General body meeting and candidate shall be elected. The new Executive Committee will thus be constituted and passed by General body for the next term of 2 years.
Duties Of Office Bearers
President
· The President shall preside at all General Body and Executive Committee Meetings.
· He shall represent the Society in its dealings with outside persons or organisations and represent HSI (National Chapter) in all meetings of the parent body of APHS.
· The President shall regulate the proceedings of the meetings and conferences.
· He shall overlook all the activities of HSI and supervise and help in implementation of all decisions and resolutions passed in Executive Committee and General Body meetings.
· The President shall have a casting vote in addition to his own vote in the event of a tie.
Past President
The Past President will remain as an ex-officio member of the incoming Executive Committee for two years.
President Elect
· The President-Elect shall act on behalf of the President in his absence.
· He will be the Election officer and will conduct when due.
· He will work in coordination with President, Hony. Secretary and Hony. Treasurer towards all administration and scientific activities.
Honorary Secretary
· The Honorary Secretary shall be in-charge of the office of HSI to conduct all correspondence, organize, arrange and convene meetings under direction of the President.
· He will prepare and circulate Agenda for Executive Committee ad General Body Meetings after consultation with the President and the office Bearers.
· He shall as far as possible attend all the meetings of the Executive Committee and General Body and keep correct minutes of all proceedings. Minutes will be circulated within 4 weeks of Executive Committee Members Meetings.
· The Honorary Secretary shall be an ex-officio member of all sub committees along with the President and the President-Elect.
· The Honorary Secretary shall present a full report of activities of HSI for 1 year at the General Body Meeting.
· He shall also receive and scrutinise the application of newly enrolled life member. He will see the decisions and resolutions passed in Executive Committee Meetings and General Body Meetings are implemented.
· He shall correspond and communicate with members regularly and update them with the activities of the society.
· He shall represent the Society in its dealings with outside persons or organisations and represent his (National Chapter) in all meetings of the parent body of APHS along with the President.
· He will seek guidance of the President and President Elect for functioning of the society.
Zonal Vice President
· The Zonal Vice President shall assist in general administration of the society and undertake any other administrative or scientific activity in his zone as and when requested by the Hon. Secretary or as discussed in the Executive Committee Meeting.
· He shall organise at least one zonal meeting every year along with the zonal executive member of the respective zone for development of Hernia surgery in his zone.
Hon. Treasurer
· The Hon. Treasurer shall be a Life Member.
· He will receive all subscriptions from memberships and earnings of Zonal and National Conferences, donations and deposit them immediately in the authorised bank.
· He will open an account in the Nationalised Bank only.
· He will issue receipts for the amount received and obtain receipts for the amounts spent.
· He will be responsible for keeping proper accounts, get them audited in time and send them to all members before Annual conference.
· He will submit unaudited statement of accounts to the Executive Committee at each meeting.
· He will jointly operate the account along with the President and/or Honorary Secretary.
· He will disburse amounts for Zonal and National conferences and for other scientific and administrative activities, awards and scholarships as passed in the Executive Committee.
· He will invest the Society money only in the Fixed Deposit schemes in Nationalised banks.
Zonal Executive Members
· Zonal Executive Committee Member shall assist in the general administration of the Society and contribute to the management of the Society along with the Zonal Vice President and organise Scientific activities in their zone.
· He should attend all Executive committee meetings, Zonal and National conferences.
· He should help in training young surgeons in the field of hernia surgery in his respective zone.
Trustees And Advisors
· The Past-President (with the exception of the immediate past president will be inducted as a Trustee of the Society after approval from the Executive Committee Members during the meeting at the end of his term of two years.
· The Founder President of APHS will be the first Trustee of HSI or the Executive Committee may nominate the first Trustee of HSI.
· All the Past-Presidents will be inducted as Trustee on approval of the executive committee.
· The trustees shall not number more than five.
· When the sixth Trustee is inducted the senior most Trustee will be designated as an Advisor. Those designated Advisors shall hold the post for life.
GenNext of HSI
– A young group of active HSI members will be created to help in all scientific activities
– They will not be a part of the Executive Committee.
– The tenure of this group would be two years
– The members in this group will be members of HSI and will be nominated by the members of the EC.
Prohibitions
· The funds of the Society shall not be used to pay the fines of members who have been convicted in a court of law.
· The Society shall not engage in any trade union activity as defined in any written law relating to trade unions for the time being in force in India.
· The Society shall not indulge in any political activity or allow its funds and/or premises to be used for political purposes.
· Gambling of any kind, is forbidden on the Society’s premises. The introduction of materials for gambling or drug taking and of bad character into the premises is prohibited.
· The Society shall not attempt to restrict or interfere with trade or make directly or indirectly any recommendation to, any arrangement with its members which has the purpose or is likely to have the effect of fixing or controlling the price or any discount, allowance or rebate relating to any goods or services, which adversely affects consumer interests.
Amendment Of Rules
No alteration or addition/deletion to this Constitution shall be made except at a General Body Meeting and with the consent of at least two-thirds of the total voting membership of the Society present at the General Body Meeting.
Disputes
In the event of any dispute arising amongst members, they shall attempt to resolve the matter at an General Body Meeting in accordance with this Constitution. Should the members fail to resolve the matter, they may take the matter to a court of law for settlement.
Dissolution
· The Society shall not be dissolved except with the consent of not less than two-thirds of the total voting membership of the Society expressed, at a General Body Meeting convened for the purpose.
· In the event of the Society being dissolved as provided above, all debts and liabilities legally incurred on behalf of the Society shall be fully discharged, and the remaining funds donated to charitable organizations, which are registered under the Charities Act as the members of the Society may determine.
· A Certificate of Dissolution shall be given within 7 days of the dissolution to the Charity Commissioner, Delhi.
