IEEE Bangalore Section
Constitution and Byelaws Adopted at the Annual General Body Meeting held on 5TH February
Sundary, 2006 at Hotel Taj West End in Bangalore.
1. IEEE - Bangalore Section
The name of the Section is The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, (Incorporated) Bangalore Section hereinafter called the “IEEE - Bangalore Section”. Henceforth in the present text ‘The Section’ means IEEE Bangalore Section.
2. AIMS:
IEEE Bangalore Section is a non commercial, apolitical, social and educational activity implementation organization. Main aims of the IEEE are (a) scientific and educational, directed toward the advancement of the theory and practice of electrical, electronics, communications and computer engineering, as well as computer science, the allied branches of engineering and the related arts and sciences; means to these ends include, but are not limited to, the holding of meetings for the presentation and discussion of professional papers, the publication and circulation of works of literature, science and art pertaining thereto and any other activities necessary, suitable and proper for the fulfillment of these objectives; (b) professional, directed toward the advancement of the standing of the members of the professions it serves; means to this end include, but are not limited to, the conduct and publication of surveys and reports on matters of professional concern to the members of such professions, collaboration with public bodies and with other societies for the benefit of the engineering professions as a whole and the general public, and the promotion of ethical conduct. It will ensure that no activities are undertaken in the Section, which are contrary to the interests of the IEEE HQ, NJ, The Section in particular and the Republic of India in general. The Section strives to enhance the quality of life for all people through the constructive application of technology in its fields of competence. It shall endeavor to promote understanding of the influence of such technology on the public welfare. The character of its scope is transnational and the territory in which its operations are to be conducted is State of Karnataka, Republic of India. The Section will encourage spread of education by way of interacting with the Student Community and by way of arranging seminars, colloquiums, Distinguished Lecture Series, Tutorials etc. The Section shall not engage in collective bargaining on such matters as salaries, wages, benefits, and working conditions, customarily dealt with by labor unions and will not encourage or take part in political activities.
3. MEMBERSHIP AND DUES:
Sec 1 The membership means all the members of IEEE who are affiliated to Bangalore Section by IEEE Head Quarters. The assembly of members is called the General Body, while its mandatory annual meeting is called AGM (Annual General Body Meeting). The grades of membership of the IEEE, the member qualifications, privileges and the requirements for admission, transfer and severance pertaining to each grade shall be as specified by IEEE HQ Bye-laws. Part of the membership fees paid by various members to IEEE HQ NJ is received by the Section as membership subscription for conducting its activities. No other membership fee is collected directly by the section. IEEE HQ through Region-10 also provides limited funding for conducting some specific activities.
Sec 2 Bylaws shall be established as hereinafter set forth, for the purposes of governing the operations and administration of the Section. The term "Bylaws" as used in this Constitution refers only to IEEE Bangalore Section Bye-laws.
Sec 3 Grades : The grades of IEEE membership and their abbreviations are
(a) Honorary Member H (HIEEE)
(b) Fellow F or FIEEE (FIEEE)
(c) Senior Member SM (SMIEEE)
(d) Member M (MIEEE)
(e) Associate Member AM (AMIEEE) (f) Graduate Student Member GSM (GSMIEEE) (g) Student Member StM (StMIEEE)
(h) Affiliate Member AF
When the status of Life Member, as defined in IEEE HQ Bylaw I-105.2, is attained these abbreviations will be preceded with an L for items in b, c, d, and e.
Sec 4 Proposed Bylaw changes amendments and revocation, and reasons therefore shall be sent to Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) at least twenty days before the stipulated meeting of the Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) at which the vote shall be taken. The votes of two-thirds of the members present and entitled to vote, at the time of the vote, provided a quorum is present, shall be required to approve any new Bylaw, amendment or revocation. (Read along with Section-8 item 6)
Sec 5 IEEE Membership dues are the basic (core) costs for membership in the IEEE and must be paid by all members directly to IEEE-HQ..
Sec 6 All members in categories b, c, and d (in Sec. 3 above) are termed as corporate members with voting rights.
4. JURISDICTION :
This Section will cover the State of Karnataka in the Republic of India.
5. AFFILIATION:
The IEEE Bangalore Section has got its affiliation with IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854 and IEEE Region-10.
6. Management Sec 1. Executive Committee :
The affairs of the IEEE – Bangalore Section will be managed by a group of elected officers, who should be Corporate Members (as defined in Item 3 Sec 6) of good standing in the IEEE with current active membership.
Sec 2. The officers of the Section are :
a. Chairman
b. Executive Vice-Chairman (one or two)
c. Secretary
d. Joint Secretary (Optional)
e. Treasurer
f. Vice Chair, Educational and Technical Activities
g. Chair, Student Activities
h. Chair, Membership Development and Professional Activities
i. SAM – IEEE
j. Newsletter Editor
k. Webmaster
[Note: One of the Vice-Chairman will be Senior Vice Chair. Seniority will be decided with number of years of service in EXECOM and membership grade or number of years in that grade]
Additionally, all the office bearers of the IEEE Region-10, who are affiliated to Bangalore Section, Chairman of IEEE Society Chapters and GOLD Affinity Group under the section, the two immediate past Chairman of the Bangalore Section, and Student Branch Counselors in Bangalore section shall be Ex-officio members; and all past Chairman other than the two immediate past Chairman shall be permanent invitees for the meetings of the Executive Committee.
Sec 3: All Corporate members belonging to IEEE Bangalore Section as per IEEE HQ list with good standing and current active membership are eligible to become office bearers. For office of the Chairman the member should be at least a Senior Member (SM). The office of the Secretary, and/or Treasurer, and/or Joint Secretary or any other activity may be combined, if so decided in the Annual General Body Meeting or during the calendar year by the Execom with a resolution. Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, preferably, should have been member of the Execom in the past, at least for one term.
Sec 4: The office bearers shall be nominated by a Nomination Committee, to be appointed by current EXECOM and the slate will be endorsed by the AGM. The term of office for all office bearers shall be one year, but shall continue till the election of the new committee. Any office bearer is eligible for re-election at the end of his term, however the Chairman can have a maximum of two terms of one year each. The consecutive period of service in Chairman’s office shall not exceed two years, except when the extension and written reasons therefore have been approved by the Regional-10 Director and the Regional Activities Board. Each extension must not exceed a period of one year. The names of the newly elected officers shall be reported to the IEEE Headquarters by the Secretary, within a period of one month following the elections.
Sec 5: Due to some reasons if the post of Chairman of the Section falls vacant, the Senior Vice Chair will automatically take over as Chairman. This part of the term will not be treated for counting two years of allowed tenure of a Chairman. Similar provisions apply for other posts where any other member can be nominated by the EXECOM. In addition to the office bearers nominated in the Slate, if any new nomination by way of petition comes to the EXECOM, ten days in advance of the AGM but after one week of the publication of the slate, the election will be held at the Annual General Body meeting The maximum number of members of the Executive Committee may generally be limited to twelve. Members of the Executive Committee who are not office bearers, may be assigned specific tasks by the Chairman to cover specific activity which may fall under the overall purview of the Section or needed for the advancement of the goals of the Section. The Executive Committee is also empowered to co-opt additional members, not more than two, to the Executive Committee. Sec 6: The term of the Executive Committee will be from 1st January to 31st of December of each calendar year.
Sec 7: In case any officer or member of the Executive Committee retire or resigns for some reason, the Executive Committee shall have powers to fill in such vacancies, for the balance of the year from the members of the Executive Committee.
Sec 8: The Executive Committee can transact business, if at least three of its elected office bearers are present at the meeting.
Sec 9: The Execom can appoint a legal and financial consultant for appropriate help, if a situation warrants.
Sec 10: The EXECOM can appoint small committees, boards, sub committees etc for conducting an event, generating funds, creating infrastructure, membership drive, credential assertion, bye law formation and amendment. Duration of these will be limited to that event only and they should cease to exist once the recommendations are submitted to the Chairman of the Section.
Sec 11: To the extent possible, the EXECOM should meet at least once in a month at a convenient place. The Chairman or in his absence, Senior Vice Chairman of the Section will conduct the meeting. All the activity Chairs are requested to give their reports during the meeting. The secretary should prepare the minutes and circulate to the EXECOM members. All the decision should be taken after discussion and at the end, these will be treated as unanimous. In case of a voting, Chairman should cast his vote if there is a tie.
Sec 12: The Bangalore Section EXECOM may take steps to have a permanent address by acquiring a building in IEEE Bangalore Section Name, renting or sharing premises with an institution or a professional body.
Sec 13 EXECOM may bid for International and National events of IEEE or conduct International and National events, co-sponsor International and National events being conducted by IEEE Societies and other Societies.
Sec 14: The EXECOM may generate additional resources other than its own resources for its activities by way of getting sponsorship and donations from Government, Institutions, Industry and Individuals.
Sec 15: The EXECOM will appoint an auditor and get it ratified by the AGM.
Sec 16 The Section will maintain its website both in IEEE Server as well as on commercially available servers.
Sec 17: The EXECOM shall facilitate the establishment of Chapters under its jurisdiction, and also provide administrative and financial help to the chapters affiliated to the section as per norms decided by the EXECOM from time to time.
Sec 18: The EXECOM shall also consent and help in formation of Student Branches and Society Chapters, in the Engineering Colleges located within the jurisdiction of the Section, provided the requirements laid down by the IEEE HQ for the creation of Student Branches and Society Chapters are satisfied.
Sec 19: When the number of members in any area increases, the Section Execom may help in the creation of a Sub-Section, which should work within the Bye-Laws of the Bangalore Section. It may recommend to IEEE HQ and RAB closing of any Sub-Section or Student Branch for any extraneous reason.
7. Nominations Committee:
Sec 1: Elections of the members of the Section Executive Committee [Execom] and its office bearers is done by a “Nominations Committee“ – defined as Slate Nomination Committee. This Committee will form a Slate for the EXECOM which shall be endorsed by the EXECOM and ratified by the AGM.
Sec 2: The Section Chairman shall, in consultation with the Executive Committee, appoint a Three Member Nomination Committee by 15th November of each calendar year. The Nomination Committee should submit the slate for the Executive Committee latest by 15th Dec of the same year. Immediate Past Chairman or in his/her absence any other Past chairman may be appointed by invitation as the Nomination Committee Chair. The two other members of the Nomination Committee should be appointed by invitation in consultation with him. The appointment should be in writing.
Sec 3: This Committee will prepare a slate of office bearers for the Section Executive Committee. The Nominations Committee shall continuously search for potential candidates for the various offices. The Nominations Committee should submit the slate to the Chairman for publication on the Section website and also in print before the schedule of AGM. Any objection to the slate should be addressed by the Chairman of the Slate Committee (as per Item 6 Sec 5) with due intimation to the outgoing Execom. The Nomination Committee shall consult the Chairman and also obtain the concurrence of all the nominees before declaring the slate. The committee shall also ascertain whether the members belong to IEEE Bangalore Section and are current active members. The EXECOM will endorse the slate and put it to the AGM for ratification. The Nominations Committee may ask names of the volunteers through website, who wishes to serve the Execom for a better wide Sections membership coverage.
Sec 4: Any corporate member of the Bangalore Section whose name does not appear in the slate prepared by the Nomination Committee, is desirous of contesting election to any of the offices, he may do so by a petition. The petition should be signed by a minimum number of 15 corporate members and submitted to the Section Secretary at least ten days prior to the schedule of the AGM. The elections to Executive Committee, if needed will be conducted at the AGM by an independent Returning Officer appointed by the Chairman and the EXECOM with the help of the Secretary of the Section. The AGM would then elect the office bearers by a ballot where each member has a single non-transferable vote. Members with voting rights only will vote (see Item 3 Sec 6)
Sec 3: The Treasurer will also prepare the financial report required by the IEEE Headquarters indicating the position as on December 31, of any year, and would ensure its submission to the headquarters within the stipulated period.
8. Conduct of the Meetings Sec 1: Meetings conducted by the Bangalore Section, like meetings of the Executive Committee, Technical Talks, Seminars, and other social meetings will be presided over by the Chairman of the Section. In the absence of the Chairman, the meetings will be chaired by one of the Vice-Chairmen. If for any reason, both the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman are not available to conduct the meeting, the members present may request the senior most member to be chairman, for that day, to be charged with the responsibility of conducting the meeting.
Sec 2: The secretary shall issue the notice for the meetings organised by the Section.
Sec 3: The Annual General Meeting should be held every year before 15th February. The Quorum for the meeting shall be 50 members. In the event of non-availability of quorum the meeting may be held after half an hour of adjournment, with available members present. 9. Official Correspondences and Record Maintenance: Sec 1: The Secretary of the Section will be overall responsible for maintaining all the records of the Section, correspondence with IEEE HQ, issuance of meeting notice, conducting and monitoring of all events, preparation of calendar of events etc.
Sec 2: He will also be responsible for, preparing the meeting reports in the format prescribed by the IEEE Headquarters, and also for submission of these reports to the IEEE Headquarters, for obtaining rebate.
10. Finances of the Section
Sec 1: The finance available to the Section will be from any one of the under mentioned sources:
Rebates received from the IEEE Headquarters based on the number of members, and also on the activity reports furnished by the Section.
Funds generated by the Section, by conducting technical, programmes.
Donations from either members of the Section or from other sources who are desirous of promoting the activities of the IEEE.
Sec 2: The funds of the Section will be managed by the Treasurer, in accordance with the guidance, which he may receive from time to time, by way of Resolutions passed in the Executive Committee or the Annual General Body Meeting. He should manage the funds of the Section in a manner, which is most advantageous to the Section and follow all tenets and principles of good financial management.
Sec 3: The Treasurer will also prepare the financial report required by the IEEE Headquarters indicating the position as on December 31, of any year, and would ensure its submission to the headquarters within the stipulated period. Sec 4: The Treasurer will also prepare a Statement of Accounts for the period January 1 to December 31, to be presented to the Annual General Body Meeting of the Bangalore Section.
Sec 5: The Section will get its accounts audited by an auditor appointed by AGM before they are presented to the Annual General Body.
Sec 6: All the accounts will be maintained by the Treasurer. Transactions, to the maximum extent possible, will be done through cheques.
Sec 7: The authorized signatories for all the Section Bank accounts shall be the Treasurer, Secretary and Chairman. At least two of the office bearers mentioned above should sign the cheques where Treasurer’s signature is always mandatory. At the beginning of each calendar year, the Execom will pass a resolution to this effect for all the Banks where the Section is maintaining its accounts.
IEEE Assets:
Assets belonging to IEEE Bangalore Section from whatever sources derived, are the property of IEEE. All such assets, regardless of the form and location in which they are kept shall be maintained under legal name of IEEE Bangalore Section. The EXECOM of that calendar year represented by its Chairman will be the custodian of the assets.
11. Inter-Society Co-operation
Sec 1: The Bangalore Section may undertake activities, jointly, with other professional bodies, academic institutions, industry etc. who have similar interest, in order to promote technical growth in the Society. The Section may undertake joint publications, joint seminars, and joint technical meetings, educational tours, programmes in order to achieve these objectives.
12. Amendments
Sec 1: Any amendments to the Byelaws can be taken up either by :
A Resolution of the Executive Committee, or
By a Requisition signed by at least 15 Corporate Members of the Section.
Sec 2: The proposed Amendment will be brought up before an Extraordinary General Body Meeting, of the Section, at which a minimum of 25 Corporate Members are present. The Amendment will be considered effective, if at least two-thirds of the members present, vote in its favour.
Sec 3: An extraordinary GBM can be called by EXECOM or a petition signed by 15 corporate members. Rest of the procedures for GBM will be same as above. The GBM will always be chaired by the Chairman of the Section, in his absence the senior Executive Vice-Chairman can chair the GBM.
13. History of Amendments
A separate file will be maintained by the Secretary of the Section to keep a history of Byelaw amendments and policy decisions.
14. Ethics and Member Conduct Committee
A Committee (appointed by EXECOM) of past Section Chairs, Fellows, Life Senior Members may be formed to look into ethics, misappropriation and other gross financial irregularities, ethical and disciplinary matters. Such a Committee should usually be Chaired by a former Section Chairman. The Committee can also be nominated by GBM or AGM.
Directive guidelines and principles
Following are the general guidelines which may be modified by the Execom. However a record of modifications should be maintained for future references.
Sec 1 : Awards
1.1The Section may institute awards and other prizes for specific technical activities. The rebate received from the IEEE Headquarters may not be used for giving such awards. The funds required for instituting all awards should generally be raised separately, by the Section.
1.2Following Awards are instituted by the Section [Till End of 2005]
BRV Student Paper Contest [ * ]
Post-graduate Paper Contest Award[* ]
Best Student Branch [Rs.10,000* ]
Outstanding Student Volunteer [Rs.5000*]
Outstanding Section volunteer (Rs.15,000*]
Outstanding Student Branch Website[Rs.5000*]
[Note: The prize amount is as on December 2005]
1.3In addition to the awards the section will felicitate any Senior Member (SM) of the section getting elected as Fellow, with a Silver plaque. The Section will also suitably felicitate any IEEE Bangalore Section member who becomes a Senior Member, awarded an IEEE Award, awards from Professional bodies (eg IETE, INAE etc), National Awards by Govt. of India (like Padma awards, Bhatnagar Award, Life Time Achievement Awards or awards of national and international importance) at AGM. The Section will also honour members publishing technical papers in IEEE Transaction or magazines.
Sec 2: Section Newsletter except of the last quarter of the Calendar year will be hosted on the Website. Hardcopy of the last quarter Newsletter will be printed and distributed to the members. Sec 3: No commercial or political activity or advertisements except that related to IEEE will be put on the Website of the Section. However to reduce the cost of printing and publication the last quarter Newsletter, conferences and their proceedings, souvenirs, CD’s, conference kits, AGM mementos etc may get a sponsorers and suitable advertisement can be displayed at the Venue or on the materials. Sec 4: The Section will bear the expenses of the office bearers for taking part in the Student Activities, attending India Council meeting or for any other IEEE activity, preferably by bus, 2-Tier AC train within Karnataka or the Southern Indian states. For trips outside this region the Section will refund actuals to the EXECOM members attending such activities. Such trips should have the prior approval by the Section Chairman. For attending IEEE Section Congress, the Chairman or one of his nominees (to be decided by EXECOM), the Section will bear the initial cost of US$ 500 as per Region-10 and IEEE guidelines. R-10 annual meeting will be attended by the Chairman or his nominee for which R-10 provides the funds. In case Section gets an award at R-10 meet or Section Congress, besides the Chairman, Execom can nominate another member also to attend and receive the award, provided IEEE meets the expenditure. Section may advance resonable amount to cover the ticket and other expenses on returnable basis.
Sec 5: The Section will pay an amount of Rs.5,000/-* for the Inaugural function of a new Student Branch as grant in aid. For one annual activity of the Student Branch Rs.5,000/- may be paid (at the discretion of Execom depending upon the availability of funds). An expenditure report from the Student Branch for the activity is mandatory.
Sec 6: For any Chapter/society activity like Conference, Symposium, Colloquium etc, depending upon the availability of funds, financial condition of the Chapter, Society and request from its Execom a grant in aid of Rs.10,000/-* may be paid. The expenditure report from the Chapter, Society is mandatory. A reasonable amount of seed money (to be decided by Execom) on refundable basis may be given for some conferences of the Section, if needed.
Sec 7: For Tutorials conducted as a part of the Professional and Technical Activity a consolidated honorarium of Rs. 20,000/-* (maximum for full day) or Rs.10,000/-* (for half a day tutorial) may be paid.
Sec 8: In order to give advantage to Section Members, especially the Student Members the following fee structure will be adopted for all paid registrations (for Technical Talks, Tutorials and Annual Symposium, etc). This may be changed by the Execom. However this should not be changed in a calendar year.
Non IEEE Member : Rs. X[*]
IEEE Member : 80 % of X[*]
Non-IEEE Student Member : 50 % of X[*]
IEEE Student Member : 40 % of X[*]
Sec 9: For Distinguished Lecture and other lectures, the EXECOM may decide the cost and type of a suitable memento.
Sec 10: The section will conduct International Symposium on Microwave Electronics (ISM) on alternate years. The first one was in the year 2004. The seed money for ISM-2006 is Rs.50,000/-.
Sec 11: A suitable memento may be given to the members attending the AGM. For AGM and the lunch/dinner after that, their spouses may accompany the members. The EXECOM may also invite some distinguished persons and visiting IEEE dignitaries, other Bangalore based professional society Chairs as guest for the dinner. The EXECOM may hold a lecture on popular subject or some entertainment programme at the AGM. However, no religious and political activity be encouraged or performed at the AGM.
Sec 12: The Section should arrange at least minimum of the following technical events but not limited to, in a calendar year.
(a) Two Tutorials
(b) One Student Leadership Workshop
(c) One Annual Symposium on a topic of general relevance
(d) Six Frontier Technical Lectures
(e) One Technical Colloquium at a Student Branch
[Preferably invocation or religious activity etc., may be avoided. The function inaugurations can be limited to lighting of a lamp]
Sec 13: Section should encourage members to upgrade their grade to SM, SM to Fellow and arrange for references and nominations. There should also be a membership drive.
Sec 14: All the activity reports should be submitted to IEEE HQ in the prescribed formats. An attendance sheet for each activity may be prepared.
Sec 15: Financial transactions and bills should be approved and authorized by the Chairman (with intimation to Execom for large sums, travels and honorariums).
Sec 16: The AGM will be presided over by the Chairman of the Section with the following as the minimum and essential agenda:
(a) Reference to important events.
(b) Presentation of Annual report.
(c) Felicitation for achievements to members including award ceremony.
(d) Presentation of Slate and conductance of election if needed.
(e) Presentation of Audited Financial Account.
(f) Appointment of Auditor for the next calendar year.
(g) Amendments in Byelaws (with proper notice).
Sec 17: The new EXECOM should prepare its calendar of events and post it on the section website.
Sec 18: The EXECOM should try to register IEEE Bangalore Section as a society and apply for Income Tax exemptions.
Sec 19: Correspondences with Section Members, Execom, HQ etc should be done electronically except in few cases where signatures are mandatory.
[*All the amounts indicated are bench marks as on Dec.2005. These can be changed/altered by the EXECOM]
