Rules
‘PREAMBLE’
For individual self respect, dignified mutual co-existence, Supreme Authority of the general house We the lawyers practicing at District Court, Chandigarh, do hereby adopt it is Constitution on 12st day of May, 1999 to uphold the authority and sanctity of rule of law.
H. S. Awasth
Advocate
CONSTITUTION OF THE DISTRICT BAR ASSOCIATION, CHANDIGARH
1. NAME : The name of the Association shall be “District Bar Association, Chandigarh”.
2. AIMS AND OBJECTS OF THE ASSOCIATION:-
i) The safeguard and promote the interests, rights and status of the members of the District Bar Association.
ii) To ventilate the legal/personal grievances of the members of the Bar and every attempt shall be made to solve the problems/grievances to the utmost capability of the bar.
iii) To provide proper facilities in furtherance of legal profession and for that purpose maintenance of a good library, have a respectable sitting place for the members and to provide chambers for suitable working of offices of the members.
iv) To create congenial atmosphere between the members and judicial officers with due respect to them.
v) To help/assist, guide the newcomers in order to help them to stand on their own feet in the profession.
3. MEMBERSHIP OF THE ASSOCIATION
i) Every Advocate registered and borne on the rolls of the Bar Council shall be entitled to be the member of the Association.
ii) Registration Membership Fee :- Any member desirous of becoming member of the Association shall apply in the prescribed form duly identified by two members of the Bar having more than 10 years standing as advocate, to the president of the Bar Association along with the following amounts:-
a) Registration Fee : Rs. 400/-
b) Subscription Fee : Rs. 30/- p.m.
current month Rs. 25/- for the lawyers having standing less than three years as an advocate. His application shall be scrutinized and considered by the President or Secretary and then he will be enrolled as a member of the Association.
3 (iii) Any Advocate, who wants to become the member of this Bar, now onwards shall not be the member of any other Bar. In case he is holding membership of any other Bar, except the Bar Association of High Court of Punjab and Haryana, shall be given temporary membership shall have no right of voting in any manner.
4 (i) Every member who is a member of the Association shall be required to pay a subscription of Rs. 30/- per month but the lawyer having standing (i.e. date of issue of licence by the Bar Council) less than three years Rs. 25/-.
(ii) It is the duty of the member to pay subscription regularly and the working committee should make proper arrangement to ensure that subscription is realized regularly from the members.
(iii) A member who does not default payment of subscription shall be deemed to be a regular member otherwise who are in arrears of subscription shall be deemed to be a defaulter.
(iv) If a defaulter becomes in arrears of subscription for three consecutive months, the working committee shall communicate to such defaulter through UPC and shall also display on the notice board of the Bar giving him 15 days time to deposit the arrears. In case the arrears are not cleared within such period, then the defaulter shall be liable to pay arrears of subscription with fine and expenses of notice within a further period of one month, falling which the said member shall be removed from the roll of association.
(v) Any member who is removed from the roll as per Act. 4(iv) he/she can get revived his membership by paying all arrears along with five in addition to membership fee of Rs. 400/-.
(vi) Those advocates who got them enrolled on or before 30th of September, only those members shall be entitled to cast their vote in the general elections to be held at the end of said year. The members, who have been enrolled after 30th of September, those members shall have no right of voting in the elections of General House to be held at the end of said year.
(vii) The members of this Bar, who are also the members or attains membership after becoming member of this bar of any other Bar Association/s of Lawyer/Advocates anywhere else except the Bar Association of Punjab and Haryana High Court shall have no right of voting. However, in case the said member obtains a certificate from the pResident of the other Bar/s of which he is the member to the effect that the member is not having voting right, the said Bar/s, the said member shall have to file an affidavit to this effect that he is not having the right of voting in any other Bar/s except this Bar. It may be clarified that other Bar/s does not include the bar association of Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh.
(viii) Any member found drunk in the Court premises will be liable to expulsion from the membership to be decided by the working committee after affording proper opportunity of defence, the cral evidence of the members of the bar shall be sufficient to prove the guilt against the said member.
5. OFFICE BEARERS
a) That the Association have been the following Office bearers who shall be elected for a term of one year, which shall end on 31st of December of every year but will continue till new elections are held.
i) President ii) Vice President
ii) Secretary iv) Joint Secretary (reserve for Lady Advocate)
v) Treasurer vi) Executive Body Members
(8) The following members shall be nominated by the Annual conference in his meeting.
b) The Post of the President shall be held by a member for three times throughout his life but he can contest only twice at a stretch.
c) The President shall preside all the meetings and in his absence the meeting shall be presided by this Vice President if neither the President nor the vice President is present in any meeting the members present shall elect one of them as a Chairman of the meeting.
6(A) PROCESS OF ELECTION:
i) A member shall file his nomination paper for the post to be contested in the prescribed form (to had from the office of District Bar), alongwith requisite security (Non-refundable) as follows:
a) President Rs. 500/- b) Vice President Rs. 500/-
c) Secretary Rs. 500/- d) Joint Secretary Rs. 300/-
e) Cashier Rs. 300/- f) Executive Member Rs. 200/-
ii) The member shall file his nomination paper complete in all respect before the Returning Officer within such period as per schedule fixed by him. He shall scrutinized his form and then allow his candidate.
iii) The member has the option to withdraw his nomination paper as per schedule.
iv) The Returning Officer shall make all arrangement for the election and the working commit shall provide all the material for election, and also provide all assistance.
v) The Returning Officer shall declare the result of the election on the same day after counting votes and the counting shall be done as per schedule declared by the returning officer.
d) The entire functioning of the bare Association shall be conducted by the Honorary Secretary consultation with other office bearers who shall maintain every record and will be custodian of the records.
6(B) ELECTION:-
i) The Election of the office bears provided in Article 5 shall be held through secret ballot vote and the candidate receiving the highest votes shall be declared elected by the Returning Officer.
ii) The Election shall be held on the date fixed by the annual conference in its meeting. The Annual Conference shall appoint one Returning Officer and two Assistant Returning Officer to conduct the election as per prevailing norms and convention.
iii) After office bearers have been elected, they will be required to take oath that they shall honest and as per this constitution, carry out their responsibilities for their tenure and for that purpose the office bears will maintain the record and every activity of the Bar shall be recorded in the minutes of the meetings of the Office Bearers.
7.A) INCOME EXPENSES AND POWERS
The income of the Bar shall be by way of Subscription or Investment if any made by the best Association. The entire receipt of the income by the bar shall be through Account Payment Cheques/Drafts in the name of the bar Association, and shall be deposited in the Account maintained for the Bar Association in the State Bank of Patiala District Court, Sector 17, Chandigarh.
b) Expenses and Powers to withdraw any amount. The account maintained in the bank of the Bar Association shall be operated by Join Signatures of the Honorary Secretary and the Cashier, only and the amount beyond Rs. 500/- shall have to be approved by Financial Committee which shall be constituted by the Annual Conference for one year.
The Withdrawal beyond Rs. 500/- shall be approved by the Financial Committee. The committee shall consist of members of the Bar with a practice of at least 15 years an shall be nominated by the Annual Conference in its meeting. The said Committee shall keep a watch over all the expenses. In case of disagreement between the Financial Committee and the working committee the matter shall be put before the General House.
c) The expenses shall be categorized in the following terms:
i) Recurring expenses.
ii) Non-recurring expenses.
Recurring expenses mean: expenses which are required every month, such as establishment charges, cause list, stationary, Non recurring expenses are those expenses which are not required every month and will include purpose of library books and furniture of the Bar etc.
iii) Requisitioned Meeting :- The Secretary shall convene all meeting of the General Body or the Working Committee as the case may be on the requisition being received by him by at least 75 members and ½ of the working committee members in case of working committees meeting stating clearly the subject to be discussed at the meeting within 24 hours from the receipt thereof. If the Secretary fails to convene the requisitioned meeting the first signatory of the requisition shall be competent to convene the meeting after giving due notice to the members. The meeting thus held shall be valid.
9. DISCIPLINE AND PROCEDURE:
a) No disciplinary action shall be taken up against office bearers or members of the Association except in accordance with the direction by the Bar Council.
b) No Confidence Motion of no confidence shall also be governed by the procedure laid down above. If resolution of the no confidence is adopted the term of the office bearer concerned shall be terminated immediately and the vacancy shall be filled immediately by the meeting adopting the motion of no confidence.
c) Legal Action No member shall be permitted to seek legal remedy or protection in the court for any matter or dispute unless channed of representation to the Association is not exhausted.
10. QUORAM
a) The quoram of the annual conference shall be ½ of the strength of the membership or 100 whichever is less. For General Body Meeting 1/8 strength of the membership or 75 whichever is less and working committee ½ of the strength. In any case in which the vote for or against any motion are equal in nos. the chairman of the meeting shall have a right of casting vote.
b) No Quorum is necessary for a meeting which was adjourned for want of quoram either at the commencement or during the course but due notice shall be given thereof.
11. EDUCATION OF THE OFFICE BEARERS
Working Committee:
i) The Working Committee shall consists of office bearers and committee members.
ii) Powers:
The Committee shall finalize the agenda of the Annual Conference of the General Body Meeting, The Secretary shall place before the Annual Conference, the annual report, audited accounts and budget estimates for approval.
iii) The Working Committee shall elect and constitute the following committee for the proper working of the office:-
i) Appointment Committee
ii) Purchase Committee
iii) Expenditure and budget estimate committee
iv) Business Committee.
The President shall preside the first three committees and the Secretary shall be the Chairman of the forth committee. All the committee shall consist of three members which includes, Chairman or Secretary, Annual Conference. The annual conference shall be composed of regular members of the District Bar Association he shall exercise all powers of the Association. The annual conference shall elect office bearers of the Bar Association as provided in Article 5 of the Constitution. And it shall nominate financial committee.
GENERAL BODY
General Body shall be composed of the members of the District Bar Association. It shall exercise all powers except as provided in Article 5 & 6 of the Constitution.
PRESIDENT
The president shall preside meeting of the Working Committee and the General body and shall exercise general supervision and control over the affairs of the Association.
VICE PRESIDENT
The vice president shall exercise all the powers of the President in his absence if neither the president nor the Vice President is present at any meeting, the member present shall elect one of their members to be chairman of the meeting.
SECRETARY
The Secretary shall be the custodian of the furniture, books, stationery and all other properties other than the money, The Secretary shall be responsible to get the relevant registers completed in all respects.
i) It shall be the duty of the Secretary to act under the directions of the President and control of the Committee.
ii) That all the correspondence of the Association shall ordinarily be issued under the signature of the Secretary.
iii) The Secretary shall record all the proceedings of the annual conference, General Body Meeting, Working Committee, Meetings in the proceedings book. He shall get it signed from the President of the Association the minutes of the respective meetings shall be placed before the next General Body Meeting or working committee meeting for its approval.
iv) The Secretary shall be responsible that the register and book of accounts are duly maintained in such forms as the committee may from time to time prescribe and the same are correctly prepared.
v) Register of the Books in the Library (ii) Register of furniture and inconsumable articles such as property register (iii) A printed catalogue of books in the library showing the classification and arrangement of the boos (iv) Minutes books of the proceedings of the Working Committee
(v) Minutes books of the proceeding of the General Body (vi) Subscription books (vii) Cash books of Income and expenditure (viii) Ledger (ix) Payment and Advance account (x) Counter-foil receipt books (xi) Suggestion books (xii) Complaint books.
JOINT SECRETARY
The Joint Secretary shall perform the duties assigned to him by the Committee and he shall also assist in day-to-day working of the Association.
TREASURER
The Treasurer shall be the custodian of all money and securities of the Association. All sums due to the Association shall payable to and recoverable by the Treasurer.
i) The Treasurer shall keep the money of the Association in the Nationalized Bank and shall bring all the money received into account immediately on the receipt thereof.
ii) The Secretary shall keep all record of payment and receipt in his personal custody. All the vouchers and bills shall also remain in his custody.
iii) Permanent Advance:
A imprest or permanent advance not exceeding Rs. 500/- shall be made by the Treasurer to the Secretary to meet contingent current expenditure and the Treasurer shall check and reimburse the imprest account at least once a month and note the facts on the accounts. No expenditure shall be met from current receipt or otherwise provided in the budget provisions.
AUDITOR
The Auditor shall examine the entire accounts of the Association and shall have access to accounts and voucher at all reasonable time throughout the year. He shall also check the revenue accounts and balance sheets and countersign the same. The Auditor shall submit his report before the Annual General Body Meeting with the Revenue Account and balance sheet.
12. LIBRARY
The Bar Association shall maintain complete record of the book/s which shall be handed over and taken over by out-going and in-coming or the office bearer of the year. No Books of library shall be issued to any member; however, he will be entitled to take photo copies of the judgment from a Photostat machine which will be installed in the library. Such copies shall be provided to him on cash payment for such Photostats.
13. RE-ADMISSION
a) A person whose membership was terminated by the working committee on account of default in payment of monthly subscription, the working committee shall readmit it on payment of subscription for the defaulting period.
b) A member who resigns or who is expelled by the Association can be readmitted only by the general body meeting and on payment of entire arrears of subscription from the date of his resignation or expulsion or any period as may be decided upon and fulfilling such other conditions as may be laid down by the General Body Meeting.
14. WELFARE SCHEME
The District Bar Association shall introduce Welfare Scheme for the benefits and welfare of the members and raised the funds for the purpose at the pattern adopted by Punjab and Haryana Bar Council an also frame Rules for the purpose.
15. SAVING CLAUSE:
If there is any constitution of the Bar that stands supreceeded by this constitution.
Drafted by:
(K.S. BAIDWAN)(ATMA SINGH) (H.S. AWASTHI)
Advocate