CONSTITUTION OF FSA


PREAMBLE


We, the foreign students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University hereby organize ourselves into a students’ association named as “Foreign Students’ Association” (FSA, JNU) and adopt and give ourselves the following Constitution:

a) To promote and to contribute to the welfare of the foreign students in JNU,

b) To identify and respond to the needs and concerns of foreign students in JNU in all fields, including academic and social;

c) To develop healthy and cordial relations among ourselves as well as with our hosts in the university:

d) To promote cordial cultural relations among foreign students both in and outside JNU and with the broader Indian society; and

e) Not to engage in any political activities or to be a front for any political organization either in India or abroad in the name of or on behalf of FSA, JNU.

In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives, the Foreign Students’ Association adopts the following articles:


PART I : DEFINITIONS


Art. I: NAME

  1. The name shall be “the Foreign Students’ Association, JNU” (FSA JNU).
  2. The association shall refer to foreign students in JNU and as specified below:


Art. II: MEMBERSHIP

  1. Membership shall be open to all foreign students enrolled in the University (JNU)
  2. Foreign students enrolled for less than one academic year shall be allowed to participate in the Association’s programs, activities and vote, but shall not be eligible to contest any elections.


Art III: COMMITTEES

  1. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, the Vice President, the General Secretary and the Joint Secretary. They shall all be directly elected by the General Body Meeting (GBM).
  2. An Advisory Committee of at least three but not more than five member shall be selected by the executive Committee taking into account their seniority and previous involvement with FSA, and they shall be approved the subsequent General Body Meeting. The existing Advisory Committee shall also transform itself into an Election Committee. If less than three members are available, the Executive shall appoint (a) new member(s).
  3. A Cultural Committee of three members shall be elected directly by the same General Body meeting that elects Executive Committee. In case a complete Cultural Committee is not elected, the Executive Committee shall appoint the remaining members to the Cultural Committee. They shall function with the Executive Committee in planning and conduction cultural activities.
  4. The General Body Meeting that elects the Executive Committee shall directly elect a Financial Committee of three members.
  5. The Caretaker Committee shall consist of the existing Advisory Committee, who shall run the affairs of the Association during a Transition Period (as per Article XVI, close3).

PART II: FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMITTEES


Art IV: FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECTIVE COMMITTEE

  1. The Executive Committee shall work as a deliberative body where all matters concerning foreign students in JNU shall be discussed and decisions taken thereon.
  2. The Executive Committee shall decide on matters concerning the general policy of the Association. The members of the Executive Committee shall collectively manage the finance of the Association and be accountable to the General Body.
  3. All communications and correspondence by the Association shall be signed by the president and the General Secretary or any body acting in these capacities.

Art.V: SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

  1. The Executive Committee shall meet at least once every two weeks. The General Secretary, however, in consultation with the President, may call a special meeting when they feel it necessary with 48 hours notice.
  2. Half of the total number of the Executive Committee shall constitute the quorum for the meeting.
  3. The President shall chair the meetings of the Executive Committee. In the absence of the President, the Vice president shall chair the meetings. In the absence of both, the Executive committee members shall select a chairperson from among themselves.
  4. The chairperson shall explain any presence of any no member in the Executive Committee beforehand.

Art VI: DECISIONS IN THE EXECTIVE COMMITTEE

  1. Decisions shall be taken on the basis of simple majority present and voting. All such decisions shall be binding on all members of the Executive Committee.

Art. VII: PRESIDENT

  1. There shall be a President directly elected by the GBM.
  2. The President shall be the chief Executive of the Association. S/he shall chair the meetings of the Executive Committee and participate in the deliberations, and have one casting vote. S/he shall execute the duties by the mandate given by the Executive Committee and by the constitution. S/he shall look after the day to day working of the Association.
  3. The President shall be in charge of FSA property.
  4. The tenure of the President shall be one year subject to the provisions in the Article XIV.


Art VIII: THE VICE PRESIDENT

  1. There shall be a Vice President directly elected by the GBM.
  2. The Vice President shall aid and advise the President on his/her day-to-day work and shall officiate as the President in the absence of the latter.
  3. The Vice President shall also chair the Cultural Committee.
  4. The tenure of the Vice President shall be one year, subject to the provisions in the Article XVI.


Art IX: THE GENERAL SECRETARY

  1. There shall be a General Secretary directly elected by the GBM.
  2. The general Secretary shall aid and advise the President in her/his day to day work. S/he shall, in consultation with the President, be responsible for calling Executive Committee and General Body Meetings and keep the record of the minutes of the meetings.
  3. The tenure of the General Secretary shall be one year subject to the provisions in the Article XVI.


Art X: THE JOINT SECRETARY

  1. There shall be Joint Secretary directly elected by the GBM.
  2. The Joint Secretary shall aid and advise the General Secretary in her /his day to day work and shall officiate as General Secretary in the absence of the latter.
  3. The Joint Secretary shall be in charge of maintaining of finance and account books of the Association.
  4. The tenure of the Joint Secretary shall be one year subject to the provisions in the Article XVI.


Art XI: ADVISORY COMMITTEE

  1. The Advisory Committee shall advice and assists the Executive Committee and facilitates any matter, activity or function of the Association.
  2. The Advisory Committee shall conduct and supervise all the elections of the Association in its capacity as the standing Election Committee.
  3. The Advisory Committee shall became the Caretaker Committee to run the affairs of the association when:

a) A successful vote of no confidence against the entire Executive Committee has been moved and passed until fresh elections are held.

b) A vote of impeachment against the entire Executive Committee has been moved and passed until fresh elections are held.

c) The entire Executive Committee resigns.

d) Only one member of the Executive is a available to perform the function of the Executive Committee.

  1. The Advisory Committee shall perform the role of a caretaker Committee for a period not exceeding one month within the normal academic session and not exceeding four months during the long vacation.
  2. The advisory Committee shall convene and conduct the GBM, where extraordinary maters (Article XII, close 10) that affect the executive Committee , are to be determined.


PART III: THE GENERAL BODY


Art XII:

  1. The General Body Meeting shall consist of all the Foreign Students enrolled in JNU
  2. Non-members shall not be allowed to attend any proceedings of the GBM
  3. A GBM shall be convened at least once every three months.
  4. The GBM shall be the supreme body of the foreign students in the JNU and the ultimate decision-making body regarding the affairs of the Association.
  5. The Executive Committee shall implement the decision taken by the GBM
  6. A General Body Meeting may be convened by:

a) The President and the General Secretary on behalf of the Executive Committee;

b) A GBM may also be requisitioned by one third of the association’s membership or in the case of financial mismanagement by the Financial Committee.

i) Such a demand shall be sent to the President and General Secretary who shall proceed to convene the meeting with one-week notice after receiving the petition

ii) The power of convene and conduct such GBM shall vest with the Advisory Committee, if the President and the General Secretary fail to comply.

  1. The notice for a General Body Meeting shall be issued at least a week before the date of the GBM. The convener(s) of the GBM shall ensure that the notice which shall contain the meeting’s agenda is sufficiently circulated.
  2. The GBM shall be president over by the President or anyone acting in the capacity.
  3. In case a GBM is convened by the Advisory Committee, one of them shall preside over the meeting.
  4. The quorum for a General Body Meeting shall be a quarter (1/4) of the Association’s membership.

i) If the quorum is not met, members present may transform the meeting into a speech GBM with the same listed agenda. In that case the quorum requirement shall not apply.

ii) A meeting called to discuss extraordinary matters shall not be transformed into a special GBM.

  1. Extraordinary matters shall include the following:

a) Motions of no confidence or impeachment against the elected office bearers

b) Amendment of the constitution

c) Financial mismanagement


PART IV: PROCEDURES AND TENURES


Art. XIII: ELECTION OF THE NEW BEARERS

  1. The election shall be held not later than two months form the date of the opening of the University after the summer vacation. The notice for the election shall be issued by the Election Committee at least two weeks before the date of the election.
  2. A member shall have a vote each for the election of the office bearers as well as any committee as may be approved by the General Body.
  3. The voting shall be by secret ballot.
  4. The candidate attaining the highest number of votes shall be elected. In case of a tie there shall be repeat balloting until the tie is broken.
  5. In case of only one nomination and in the absence of clear reservations or objections the candidate shall be declared validly elected.


Art. XIV: TENURES

  1. The tenure of the office bearers shall be one year.
  2. The tenure of any office bearer shall be valid as long as the person is a bona fide student of the JNU.
  3. In the case of the impossibility of the holding of election within the above specified period because of unforeseen circumstance, the existing Executive Committee shall continue in their position until election is held. Election then shall be conducted within one month of resumption of normalcy.
  4. In the event of any of the offices of the President and General Secretary falling vacant before the expiry of their terms, the Vice President and Joint Secretary shall respectively officiate for a period of one month after which an election shall be held.
  5. In the event of any offices of Vice President and Joint Secretary falling vacant before the expiry of their terms, two members may be inducted to officiate for a period not exceeding one month pending election.


Art. XV: IMPEACHMENT/ NO CONFIDENCE MOTION

  1. A motion of impeachment may be brought against any of the office bearers of the Association by at least one third of total membership or half of all the committees of the association and shall be decided upon by two-thirds majority of an extra ordinary General Body Meeting.
  2. A motion of no confidence against the Executive committee as a whole may be moved by at least one third of the members of the Associations and passed by a two-thirds majority present and voting at an extra ordinary General Body Meeting.
  3. The letters of resignation of the entire executive committee should be addressed to the General Body and submitted to the Advisory Committee for actions. Impeachment or no confidence notices shall be given ten days in advance of the extra ordinary GBM at which such motion is to be discussed.


Art XVI. RESIGNATION

  1. Letter of resignation in case of the President of the Association shall have to be addressed to the General Body and handed to the General Secretary for action.
  2. The resignation letter in case of any other elected office bearer will be addressed to the General Body and submitted to the President for action.
  3. The resignation of the whole Executive Committee shall start a Transition Period.


Art. XVII: NON-PERFOMING MEMBERS OF THE ELECTED COMMITTEES

  1. When an elected office bearer shows negligence, incompetence or for any other reason is unavailable to perform his/her functions, the Executive Committee shall have the powers to:

a) Transfer the duties to any other competent member of the Executive Committee, or

b) Co-opt any other competent member to perform the functions of that particular office until the next GBM is convened to decide to the matter of performance of such duties.


Art. XVIII: HANDING OVER

  1. If any office bearer has to leave before the end of his/her tenure, that s/he shall be required to hand over in the presence of the remaining members of all the committees.


PART V: FINANCES


Art. XIX

  1. The members of the Executive Committee shall collectively manage the finance of the Association and be accountable to the General Body Meeting.
  2. A bank account in the name of FSA shall be opened and the President, the Joint Secretary together with the Foreign Students’ Advisor shall be the signatories. The access to the bank account shall be the signatures of any two of the signatories. Whenever any signatory(s) is changed the Executive Committee shall inform the bank within a week.
  3. Any expenditure shall be by prior approval of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may keep an amount not exceeding three thousand rupees (Rs. 3000) for their day-to-day expenditures. The rest shall be kept in the FSA bank account.
  4. The President shall present the financial report to the GBM for approval at the close of each semester and at the time of the Election. Approval requires a two-thirds majority of those members present in the GBM.
  5. A financial Committee shall carry out auditing of the accounts and it shall present its report directly to the General Body Meeting when the President shall be submitting the financial report.

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