After posting the Constitution of The Press Club, Mumbai, we are revisiting the Special Genera Meeting ( SGM) and the Annual General Meeting ( AGM) convened and conducted , in utter violation of the Constitution, on July 27, 2007.
First have a look at the official notice for the AGM which was notified to the members by email, notice on the Club Notice Board and the Draft Annual Report with three different dates and two letters sent to the President of the Club in this regard by a member.
From: | "The Press Club, Mumbai" |
To: | "The Press Club, Mumbai" |
Subject: | |
Date: | Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:41:42 +0530 |
N O T I C E
The Annual General Body Meeting of the Press Club, Mumbai will be held on Friday, July 27, 2007 at 2.30 pm at the Club premises to transact the following business:
1. To Read and confirm the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on August 25, 2006.
2. To consider and if found fit, adopt the Report of the Managing Committee for the previous year;
3. To consider and if found fit, adopt the audited statement of Accounts of the Club for the financial year 2006-07;
4. To appoint an Internal Auditor to assist and advise the President.
5. To appoint the Auditor and to fix his remuneration.
6. To transact any other business with the consent of the chair.
Note: In the absence of the required quorum, the meeting will be adjourned to 3.00 PM on the same day, and the business of the AGM's agenda will be transacted whether there is a quorum or not. As per Article 29(e) of the rules and regulations of the Press Club, one-third members shall form the quorum at any General Body meeting.
Gurbir Singh
Hon. Secretary
Mumbai, 19 July 2007
To
The President
The Press Club, Mumbai
Dear Mr. President,
This refers to a notice dated July 04, 2007 for the Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) of the Press Club, Mumbai, to be held on Friday, July 27, 2007 at 2.30 pm at the Club premises. 1)
At the outset, I would like to point out that the above-mentioned notice is not valid and it needs to be either withdrawn or amended, considering that it has been signed by Mr. Gurbir Singh in the capacity of Hon. Secretary - a post that is not provided for in the current Constitution of the Press Club, Mumbai. You may please note that the prefix `honorary' (abbr. Hon) was deleted from the post of secretary in the new constitution of the Press Club, which came into effect from June 30, 2006.
The rationale behind the deletion of the prefix `honorary' was that that all the posts in the managing committee of the club are honorary and there was no specific need to add this prefix to only the post of the Secretary. Present among others at this AGM, wherein the Constitution was amended, was Mr. Gurbir Singh.
The relevant provisions -- Article 13 (a) & (b) – of the amended Constitution read thus:a. The President shall be the Chief Executive of the Club and the Office - Bearers shall consist of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, Joint Secretary and the Treasurer. b. The ordinary members shall elect directly President, the five office-bearers – Chairperson, Vice-chairperson, Secretary, joint secretary and treasurer -- and 10 members of the Managing Committee. The President, office bearers and 10 members of the Managing Committee will have a term of two years each.The elections shall be held once in every two years, along with the Annual General Meeting of the year in which elections are due.
In my opinion, all the notices and orders signed by Mr. Singh as honourary secretary after the amended constitution was enforced stand invalid and may land us in trouble in any court of law. On my part, I have no intention to move to the court on this count and yet do hope you would utilise collective wisdom of the members to initiate remedial measures.
I refer to the note mentioned below the above notice which states: "In the absence of the required quorum, the meeting will be adjourned to 3.00 PM onthe same day, and the business of the AGM's agenda will be transacted whether there is a quorum or not. As per Article 29(e) of the rules and regulations ofthe Press Club, one-third members shall form the quorum at any General Body meeting".
I appreciate that Mr. Gurbir Singh has rightly pointed out that as per the provisions of the amended constitution, one-third members shall form the quorumat any AGM. The Secretary, however, has failed to realize that this Article 28 (e) of the Constitution came to be amended to ensure maximum participation of the members in the club affairs in general and the AGM in particular.
Going by the Managing Committee (MC) report for 2006-07 which has been circulated along with the notice for the July 27, 2007 AGM, there are currently838 ordinary members in the Press Club, Mumbai. Which means, 280 ordinary members shall form quorum for the July 27, 2007 AGM.
The current MC has convened the AGM on July 27, 2007 at the club premises. Given that a major portion of Press Club building was demolished a few months back and that the only portions that remain untouched are the club's office and the adjacent conference room (also called the AC room), I presume that the MCintends to hold the July 27, 2007 AGM at the AC room.
The problem is that the AC room can not accommodate more than 60 ordinary members, let alone 270 members who form a quorum for the AGM. Knowing full well that the AC room can not accommodate 270 members (required for a quorum at the AGM), why has the MC chosen to hold the July 27, 2007 AGM at the club premises? Is not the MC's decision on the AGM venue tantamount to utter disrespect to the amended Constitutional provision vis-à-vis quorum?
This question stems from the fact while on one hand we strive for increasing the participation of members at the AGMs, the MC – on the other hand – is trying to restrict the number of members at the AGM by holding it in the AC room. The MC must change the venue. I suggest it be held in Marathi Patrakar Sangha. I request you to consider the above two issues in view of the fact that they are important in the light of the amended provisions of the Club's constitution.
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
(C P Jha)
Membership no. 388
To
The President
The Press Club, Mumbai
Through The Chairman, The Press Club, Mumbai
Sub: The Annual General body Meeting (AGM) schedule for July 27, 2007
Dear Sir,
One of the issues listed in the agenda for the above-mentioned AGM is: "To read and confirm the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on August 25, 2006". You may kindly note that the draft minutes of the above AGM were circulated among the Press Club members through e-mails on March 20, 2007. Through an e-mail sent across to the Press Club, Mumbai (addressed to the Secretary) on April 1 2007, I took objection to certain contents in it on the ground that they were at variance with what was actually deliberated at the said AGM and gave an advance notice to the Press Club, Mumbai, about my resolve to move amendments as to the said contents in the draft minutes. Through the same communication, I also made it known that I intend to move a censure motion against Secretary Gurbir Singh in this connection.
Reproduced below is the text of the e-mail I sent to the Secretary, the Press Club on April 1, 2007: ”Sun, 1 Apr 2007 03:33:42 -0700 (PDT)From: "cpjha" <cpjha@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Draft Minutes of AGM held on Aug 25 '06
To: "The Press Club, Mumbai"<
To
The Secretary,
The Press Club, MumbaiSub Amendments in the draft minutes of the Annual General Body Meeting held on August 25, 2006 as circulated among the members by an email recently.
Dear Sir,I propose following two amendments in the draft minutes of the Annual General Body Meeting held on August 25, 2006.I also propose a censure motion. I shall be submitting hard copy of this to the Club in due course.
Regards
CPJha Mumbai/1 April 2007
Ist amendment
Under the heading "OTHER BUSINESS WITH THE CONSENT OF THE CHAIR" (AC matter) on page 5
The amended minutes to read as" Replying to CP Jha's contention that there was a letter offering maintenance for five ACs" instead of " Replying to CP Jha's allegations that there was a letter offering maintenance for five ACs"
Explanation: This was not an allegation but a fact supported by documents handed over to the President with due permission.
2nd amendment:Amended minutes to read as " There was a near consensus in the AGM that the issue be left for consideration of the new elected managing committee " instead of " However the members unanimously agreed the issue be treated as closed as there was no payment involved for any 'fifth' AC."
Explanation: no such proposal was moved and passed in the AGM to treat the issue as closed. Censure motion
I propose to censure the secretary Gurbir Singh for engaging into wilful distortion of deliberations of the AGM as there was not even a whisper to treat the AC issue as closed. Despite this the Secretary has preferred to draft the minutes in such a way -using word unanimously-that is an affront to the AGM and its majesty. Now that the AGM has been convened on July 27, 2007, I would like to move above amendments as also table the above-mentioned censure motion at that AGM against the Secretary Mr. Gurbir Singh.
You may please note that during the course of my tabling the censure motion against Mr. Gurbir Singh, I would like to throw light on certain new dimensions that have emerged on the issue relating to the AC issue. I request you to allow me to move the above mentioned amendments as also table the censure motion against Mr. Gurbir Singh.
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
(C P Jha)
Membership no. 388
No comments:
Post a Comment