CONSTITUTION OFMAHARASHTRA MANDAL, KUWAIT

Preamble:

Desirous Of Preserving And Promoting The Cultural Heritage Of Maharashtra And Uniting The People Of Marathi Origin, We The Marathi Loving People In The State Of Kuwait Do Hereby Constitute The Maharashtra Mandal, Kuwait And Bequeath Ourselves To This Constitution.

Article 1:

1. MANDAL:

The organization shall be known as MAHARASHTRA MANDAL, KUWAIT herein referred to as Mandal. It has been incorporated as a social, cultural and non-profit organization and registered so with the Indian Embassy, Kuwait under the Registration No.: INDEMB/KWT/ASSN/89.

Article 2:

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE MAHARASHTRA MANDAL, KUWAIT:

To promote cultural, social, educational and sports activities that will be individually and collectively beneficial to the members of the Mandal, to encourage acts of charity and benevolence and to create an opportunity for inter-cultural exchange.

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Article 3:

3. MEMBERSHIP OF THE MANDAL:

3.1. ELIGIBILITY:

3.1.1. Membership of the Mandal shall be open to all Marathi speaking people and other interested persons. Membership application of the other interested persons should be recommended by at least two members of the Mandal and membership shall be granted to them only at the discretion of the working Executive Committee. The working Executive Committee has the right to reject the application in interest of functioning of Mandal without giving explanation.

3.1.2. Full membership can be on family or single status with separate subscription amounts applying to each category. Earning members of (i.e. sons / daughters) and married daughters of family shall become members separately. For families, voting and all other rights shall be available to both spouses. Any family member attending Mandal programs while on visit visa shall pay necessary guest fee (s) as may be decided by the working Executive Committee for each program.

3.2. APPLICATION FOR AND APPROVAL OF MEMBERSHIP:

Application for membership shall be made to the Executive Committee using Official application form (Appendix – 9.2) and it will be granted upon approval of the application by the Executive Committee and payment of the appropriate subscription for the current year.

3.3. REINSTATEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP:

Any person who has ceased to be a member of Mandal, may be readmitted to membership of Mandal, provided that an application is made requesting the same to the Secretary, payment is made of any arrears of subscription due and conditions of Para 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 are fulfilled.

3.4. RESIGNATION OF MEMBERSHIP:

Any member wishing to resign from his / her membership shall notify the Secretary in writing or by email.

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3.5. TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP:

3.5.1. Failure to pay membership and or any other dues upon the request shall automatically result in lapse of membership.

3.5.2. A member may be expelled from the Mandal by majority vote of the Executive Members present at the Executive Committee meeting. This might be done in view of gross indiscipline and persistent activities against the interest of the Mandal by such a member.

3.6. MEMBERSHIP DUES:

3.6.1. Each member of the Mandal shall pay membership fee to the Mandal. Such a fee shall be payable at once from the month of January for one year membership OR from the month of July for half year membership. Such a fee shall be collected by any member of the Executive Committee for remittance to the Treasurer of the Mandal. The amount of fee shall be as per the Fee structure document approved by the working Executive Committee (Appendix – 9.1).

3.6.2. Membership of the Mandal is non-transferable and non-refundable..

3.6.3. Rates of the membership shall be decided by the Executive Committee by a majority vote and shall be based on the needs of the Mandal. The fees (rates) will be published in Fee structure document kept on Website as Appendix -9.1, which will be a dynamic document & changes made to this will not require any amendment to the constitution.

3.7. STRUCTURE OF MEMBERSHIP:

3.7.1. There will be 3 categories of memberships: Single or Couple or Family

3.7.2. The year will begin on 1st January and end on 31st December.

3.7.3. Members joining any time between January 1st to June 30th will have to pay full fees as mentioned above. However 75%* or as decided by the working Executive Committee (mentioned in Appendix-9.1 – Fee Structure Document) of the fees will be charged, if anybody wishes to join anytime after June.

* Rounded off to nearest lower figure.

3.7.4. Couple means a husband and a wife.

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3.7.5. Family would generally mean a couple with one or more children, but the size of the family shall not exceed 4. But if any person other than the husband and wife is an earning member, then he / she cannot be included in the family. Separate fees shall be charged for such earning member. If such earning member enjoys a married status, he/she can opt for the couple or family status separately as the case may be.

3.7.6. No fees will be refunded if the member wishes to withdraw his membership anytime after becoming the member by paying full annual fees.

Article 4:

4. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

4.1. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

The management of the Mandal shall be vested in an Executive Committee, which shall be composed of a President, Secretary, Cultural Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Webmaster & minimum of 10 other Members. Additional posts can be created at the discretion of the Executive Committee with 2/3rd majority agreeing for it for that particular tenure of the Executive Committee. Minimum 5 members in the Executive Committee shall be Ladies. In the event of no lady member volunteering, the vacancies shall be filled by male members.

4.2. WORK PROCESS FOR FORMATION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

The working Executive Committee for the current year is responsible for the formation of the Executive committee of the coming year. The formation process for the coming year Executive Committee starts with email to all the registered members of the Mandal in the month of September-October to encourage all the interested members to become part of the next year’s Executive Committee. All the interested members should send the nomination as the reply to above request email before 5 days of last program date of the current year.

Case 1: If the nominations received are exceeding 16 then current Executive Committee will arrange for voting on the day of last program of the year.

Case 2: If the nominations received are less than 16 but more than 10 then straight away the current Executive committee will ask the interested members to form the body for next year Executive Committee and hand over the charge as written in this constitution.

Case 3: If the nominations received are less than 10 then the existing Executive Committee needs to nominate among them or convince from other registered members to make the figure minimum up to 10 Executive members and make the handover of charge for functioning of the Mandal.

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4.3. METHOD OF VOTING (FOR THE CLAUSE 4.2 CASE-1 ONLY):

Only registered members are entitled to vote and speak at the Annual General Meeting / Annual program. Proxy voting will be permitted only when full members are not available for voting due to ill health or absence of stay in Kuwait or due to any other reason duly communicated to and considered appropriate by the Executive Committee. Proxies must be presented to the Executive Committee prior to the start of the meeting, and must be recorded in minutes. Voting shall be by secret ballot.

4.4. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE POSTS DISTRIBUTION:

4.4.1. Once the Executive Committee is formed all the newly elected / selected Executive members will meet to decide the portfolios among themselves e.g.: President, Secretary, Cultural Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Webmaster and any other if they feel the need to do so by abiding to the constitution’s clauses. Nominations to above-mentioned posts would be as far as possible made by consensus.

4.4.2. If during the selection process with-in the Executive Committee does not arrive at a consensus about any particular post (s) and more than 2 Executive members stake claim for a particular post, then decision will be made as follows:

Simple majority will award the position to one of them after open voting amongst the new Executive Committee members. In case of a tie of votes within the current year's Executive Committee vote of the previous year's President will be considered, so long as he / she is not part of the initial voting process.

If he / she is part of initial voting process then, vote of one of the following from previous year's Executive Committee would be considered in the order mentioned herein – General Secretary, Treasurer, Cultural Secretary, Webmaster, Auditor or lastly majority of the Executive Members of last year Executive Committee.

4.5. TERM OF OFFICE:

The Executive Committee Members shall hold office for a period of one year from the date of Annual General Meeting / Annual Program. The retiring members of the committee are eligible for re-election, but the posts of President, Secretary, Treasurer and Auditor should not be held by same Executive Member for more than two (2) consecutive years.

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4.6. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING:

The quorum for Executive Committee Meetings shall not be less than four committee members out of which one must be President, Secretary or Treasurer. Any elected member of the Executive Committee who is absent from the three successive meetings of the committee without good and sufficient cause shall be removed from the committee. The President or during his absence from Kuwait, Secretary shall have a deliberative vote and in the event of equality of votes may exercise a casting vote.

4.7. POWERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

The Executive Committee which shall meet as the business of the Mandal demands shall have the power to conduct the Mandal affairs, and fill by co-option any vacancy which occurs in their numbers. Such co-option shall have to be ratified in a general meeting. Decisions taken by the Executive Committee regarding management of the Mandal including organizing all cultural programs shall be final.

4.8. DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE MANDAL:

4.8.1. The President shall be responsible for the guidance of the affairs of the Mandal.

4.8.2. The President shall preside over General Body and Executive committee meetings.

4.8.3. The President shall report on the general progress of the Mandal at the Annual General Meeting.

4.8.4. The President could disallow any resolution, amendment, motions etc at the Executive Committee and Annual General meeting if these are against the spirit of the constitution or detrimental to the interests of the Mandal. President should consult members of the Executive committee members in this respect and base his decision on the views of majority of the committee.

4.8.5. The President shall represent Mandal and participate on behalf of Mandal at other meetings / functions organized by outside groups and agencies.

4.8.6. The President shall serve as connecting link between the Executive Committee and the General Body to ensure good communication between the two.

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Duties of President Continued………

4.8.7. The President & Secretary shall review all the content before publishing it on website. The President & Secretary are accountable for any content published on the Mandal’s official website, www.maharashtramandalkw.org . Hence, the content to be published / uploaded on the Mandal website shall have to be authorized by the President / Secretary. Any content published / uploaded without the President / Secretary Consent would not be binding on any of the Executive Committee Member including President / Secretary.

4.9. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY OF THE MANDAL:

4.9.1. The Secretary shall be responsible for the conduct of all business of the Mandal. While doing so he/she will delegate/allot responsibilities to the Executive Members / Members of Mandal.

4.9.2. The Secretary shall maintain all correspondence of the Mandal in good order.

4.9.3. The Secretary shall notify Executive Members about time / place of meetings and provide them with agenda / programs.

4.9.4. Conduct all types voting, discussions, consensus decision making at Executive Committee meetings.

4.9.5. The Secretary shall arrange & send to webmaster all the communications to be done on behalf of Executive Committee to all the members.

4.9.6. The President & Secretary shall review all the content before publishing it on website. The President & Secretary are accountable for any content published on the Mandal’s official website, www.maharashtramandalkw.org . Hence, the content to be published / uploaded on the Mandal website shall have to be authorized by the President / Secretary. Any content published / uploaded without the President / Secretary consent would not be binding on any of the Executive Committee Member including President / Secretary.

4.9.7. In the absence of the President, the Secretary shall assume all the responsibilities of the President. In the absence of President and Secretary, Cultural Secretary or Executive Member nominated by the President / Secretary shall assume all the responsibilities of the President.

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4.10. DUTIES OF THE TREASURER OF THE MANDAL:

4.10.1. The Treasurer shall keep an account of finances of the Mandal and present a report at each Executive Committee meeting.

4.10.2. The Treasurer shall prepare financial statement of the funds and arrange to have it audited before presenting it at the Annual General Meeting / annual program.

4.10.3. The Treasurer could incur expenditure over and above the set limit only under such circumstances when an Executive Committee cannot be organized or conducted. President and Secretary shall have to authorize any such expenditure. The Treasurer shall report such expenditure at the next Executive Committee meeting for approval.

4.10.4. The Treasurer shall submit the completed accounts of the year to the internal Auditor within one month of the last function / program of the Mandal in the year.

4.10.5. The Treasurer will supply all the information / explanations asked by the Internal Auditor / President / Secretary in context with Accounts of Mandal.

4.10.6. All the duties of Executive Member

4.11. DUTIES OF THE WEBMASTER OF THE MANDAL:

4.11.1. The webmaster is overall coordinator of the official website of Mandal.

4.11.2. The webmaster will take care of renewal of website on timely basis. Protect the website from hacking / viruses & keep it updated.

4.11.3. The webmaster will improve / modify the website content and update the website with the approval of the Executive Committee. Before publishing any content over the website, the content should be approved by the President / Secretary.

4.11.4. Any password / secured log-ins incorporated within or for website, the username / password not be shared, except for the general / common log-ins username/password should be known to President & Secretary if it’s not individuals personal log-in account.

4.11.5. Is responsible for handling all email communications for information regarding programs, activities, feedbacks, enquiries, greetings etc. Answering to members complaints, response to views expressed by members, should be done in consent with President / Secretary & or to be forwarded to President / Secretary for giving response.

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4.11.6. All the duties of Executive Member.

4.12. DUTIES OF THE CULTURAL SECRETARY OF THE MANDAL:

4.12.1. The Cultural Secretary is overall coordinator of the cultural activities of the Mandal.

4.12.2. The Cultural Secretary will arrange events, costumes / properties for the cultural activities. Give advance information to members through General Secretary for arranging resources for all types of cultural activities throughout year.

4.12.3. Participates in all types voting, discussions, decision making at Executive Committee meetings.

4.12.4. All the duties of Executive Member.

4.13. DUTIES OF INTERNAL AUDITOR OF THE MANDAL:

4.13.1. An Auditor, who will be a full member of the Mandal and shall be part of Executive Committee as Internal Auditor, shall audit accounts on regular basis throughout the year.

4.13.2. Any discrepancies found in the accounts, clarification should be sought from the Treasurer & shall be timely notified to President & Secretary.

4.13.3. All the duties of Executive Member.

4.14. DUTIES OF THE EXECUTIVE MEMBERS OF THE MANDAL:

4.14.1. The Executive Members participates in all type of Executive Committee activities, Supports the functioning of Mandal as & when required in the way demanded.

4.14.2. Share ideas, views, and implement them with Executive Committee approval.

4.14.3. Participates in all types voting, discussions, decision making at Executive Committee meetings.

4.14.4. Duties as decided during the Executive Committee meeting action items / follow-ups.

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4.15. HANDOVER OF CHARGE WITHIN OLD & NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES:

The Executive Committee is generally formed at the end of every year. On formation of such committee, funds including cash, investments, properties, accounts receivable and other assets liquid or otherwise shall be transferred to the newly constituted Executive Committee.

4.16. SUB- COMMITTEES:

The Executive Committee has the authority to appoint Sub – Committees from amongst its own members and by co-option from full members for any purpose, which may be deemed necessary. Sub Committees so formed will be bound by such decisions / instructions as the Executive Committee may issue. No Sub - Committee shall involve the Mandal in any expenditure unless this has been authorized by the Executive Committee.

Article 5:

5. CONTROL & RECORDS OF THE MANDAL FUNDS / ACTIVITIES:

5.1. CONTROL OF MANDAL FUNDS:

Cash up to the amount of KD 250/- will be held and operated by the Treasurer. Amounts above that will be deposited in a joint account with a local bank. The joint savings account to be opened in the name of Treasurer, President &/or Secretary &/or One Member as nominated by the working Executive Committee. With the change of the Executive Committee every year, account holders will also change.

5.2. FUNDS UTILIZATION:

The Mandal Funds collected through Membership fees / Additional fees (collected as and when for any purpose) / Sponsorships / Donations and other amounts received, should be utilized in the interest of the Mandal only. The Executive Committee should invest any surplus funds, if available, in a fixed deposit or other interest earning schemes of local banks. Each investment decision should be made by express consent of Executive Committee members and documented as such. The tenor of these investments should not exceed the term of the current year's Executive Committee. Investments in purchase of equity and other shares / Mutual Funds or stock of any kind is expressly forbidden.

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5.3. FINANCIAL RECORDS & ACCOUNTS OF THE MANDAL:

The financial year of the Mandal shall be from 1st January to the 31st December. A statement of accounts shall be presented at the Annual General Meeting (Annual Program (Last program of the calendar year). An Auditor, who will be a full member of the Mandal and shall be part of Executive Committee as Internal Auditor, shall audit accounts on regular basis throughout the year.

5.4. RECORDS OF THE MANDAL ACTIVITIES:

The proceedings of all General and Executive Committee Meetings shall have minutes noted and a General Report on the affairs of the Mandal shall be submitted to the General Meeting.

5.5. RECORDS ON WEBSITE / WEBSITE CONTENT:

5.5.1. Maharashtra Mandal, Kuwait is having its official website maharashtramandalkw.org controlled by the webmaster, But President / Secretary are responsible / accountable for the content on website. Any changes to the website will require 2/3rd majority of the Executive Committee and President / Secretary to approve.

5.5.2. All the data / content available on the website of the previous years to be saved in Archived section / History section of the website, if any deletion is required needs to be done with 2/3rd majority of the working Executive committee & proper communication of the rational needs to happen to all the members of the Mandal. The exception to this clause can be high size files which may affect the proper functioning of the website e.g. photos / videos etc.

5.5.3. The working Executive Committee is not accountable for the material, which has never been published on Maharashtra Mandal, Kuwait website.

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Article 6:

6. MEETINGS:

6.1. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING:

Annual General Meeting of the Mandal shall be held along with the Annual Program of the year or within three months of the end of the year.

6.2. BUSINESS OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING:

The business of the Annual General Meeting shall consist of receiving reports and accounts for the current financial year, election of the members for ensuing year, consideration of any proposals duly made to amend the constitution, and any other business properly brought before the meeting.

6.3. EXTRA ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING:

The Executive Committee may at their discretion, call an Extra Ordinary General Meeting of the Mandal at any time or within fourteen (14) days of the written request of not less than 30% of the full members. Such request must state full particulars as to the purpose for the Extra Ordinary General Meeting and the meeting shall be confined only to the agenda for which it has been convened.

6.4. QUORUM:

The quorum for the General Meeting shall be 25% of the full members present at the time in Kuwait. For Extra Ordinary General Meeting, a quorum of 50% will be required.

6.5. CHAIRPERSON:

President of the Mandal shall normally be the Chairperson of all General Meetings. In case of his / her absence, Secretary shall be nominated as Chairman.

6.6. INTERPRETATION:

In the event of any dispute arising in any, General Meeting as to the meaning of any of these rules the Chairperson of the Meeting shall decide on the meaning and his / her decision shall be final for that meeting.

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6.7. NOTICE OF MEETINGS:

Not less than fourteen (14) days notice of Annual General Meeting and not less than seven (7) days notice of any Ordinary or Extra Ordinary General Meeting shall be given.

Article 7:

7. AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION:

Constitution of the Mandal can be amended. However no alteration shall be made to the constitution by any Member except at the Annual General Meeting or at an Extra Ordinary General Meeting called for this purpose, but such alteration will only be allowed provided that at least 75% of the full members are present or represented by proxy ratify the alteration. The proposal for alteration shall be submitted in writing, duly proposed by at least 15% of full members, to the General Secretary at least twenty one (21) days before the date of Meeting at which it is to be considered.

Article 8:

8. PARTICIPATION OF GUESTS / OTHER COMMUNITIES:

8.1. The Executive Committee, whose decision in this regard will be final, shall consider participation of Guests and persons from other communities besides members in cultural programs arranged by the Mandal on individual basis.

8.2. Invitation to Dignitaries and Office bearers of other societies for cultural programs shall be made on reciprocal basis. Members of the Diplomatic community / Embassy Personnel will be invited for all Mandal cultural programs.

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Article 9:

9. APPENDIX:

Below 2 appendices are available on the official Maharashtra Mandal, Kuwait website www.maharashtramandalkw.org Any change to these documents made on website does not require constitution amendment. The working Executive Committee is allowed to keep these document evergreen and published on website & or communicate to all members.

9.1. MMK FEE STRUCTURE DOCUMENT:

Refer the link: http://www.maharashtramandalkw.org/membership

9.2. MMK MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM:

Refer the link: http://maharashtramandalkw.org/images/docs/User_Reg_Form.docx

KUWAIT4TH APRIL 2008

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