Students' union and Allied Bodies

Constitution and Functions of the Students’ Union

Function of the Union:

The Students’ Union shall remain the sole tribune of student’s opinion inside Tulasi Women’s College. Its functions are detailed as follows: 

1. To organize discussion on the general, cultural, academic, national and international problems;

2. To organize debates;

3. To invite eminent persons to address the Union;

4. To celebrate the Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti and other similar occasions in consultation with the Principal; and

5.  To take up such other activities as are proposed by the Union and approved by the Principal.

Membership of the Union:

Every student of +3 Degree Course of the College is a member of the Union and is eligible for election to any of its offices subject to articles 8 & 10. No one whose name is not on the rolls of the College can be a member of the Union.

Members of the Staff:

The General Body meeting of the Union shall be open to all members of the Staff who, if they so desire, can take part in the proceedings of the meetings.

The Executive Committee:

There shall be an Executive Committee of the Students’ Union consisting of the following:

1. The President

2. The Vice-President

3. The Secretary

4. The Assistant Secretary

5. Three student members to be elected, one from each of the classes, Part‑I, Part‑II & Part‑III of +3 course. 

Functions of the Executive Committee:

The functions of the Executive Committee shall be:

1. To draw up the programme of Union activities for the session;

2. To adopt the Union budget for the session; and

3. To undertake such other activities as are consistent with the objectives of Union in accordance with the Constitution.

4. An ordinary meeting of the Executive Committee may be called by the Secretary in consultation with the Advisor, Notice of such meeting with date, time, place and agenda shall be given to members at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

5. An extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee can be convened at any time by Principal.

6. A meeting of the Executive Committee shall be presided over by the President or in her absence by the Vice-President or in the absence of both by any member of the Committee elected at the meeting. Such election being conducted by the advisor.

7. No meeting of the Executive Committee can be conducted without the Advisor.

8. Fifty per cent of the members of the Executive Committee shall constitute the quorum.

9. The minutes of the meeting shall be maintained by the Secretary and a copy thereof shall be communicated by the Secretary to the Principal through the Advisor within two days.

The Advisor:

1. There shall be an Advisor appointed by the Principal from among the members of the Staff.

2. The Principal may, if he/she thinks necessary, appoint Associate Advisors to assist the Advisor in discharging her duties. Se shall act as the Advisor during the absence of the Advisor.

3. The Advisor shall be present at the meeting of the Executive Committee and at the ordinary meeting of the Union. She will assist by helpful suggestions whenever necessary in the proper conduct of the meeting. The President may refer to her any rule for interpretation and the decision of the Advisor when so referred to, shall be final.

4. The Advisor may at anytime during a meeting at the request of the President explain the scope and effect of a motion or amendment.

5. The Advisor may, if she is unable to be present at a meeting, request Associate Advisor to take her place and such member shall discharge all the functions of the Advisor.

6. Subject to the provision in Rule 26 below neither the Advisor nor her Deputy will preside over a meeting of the Union, unless specially requested to do so by the President.

The President:

Any member of the Union is eligible to stand for the Office of the President of the Union. The President shall preside over all ordinary meetings of the Union at which she is present and over extra ordinary meetings subject to provision contained in Rule 40. She shall be responsible for maintaining order and interpreting the rules. Her ruling shall be considered final except where she requests the Advisor to give a ruling in which case the ruling of the Advisor shall be considered final. 

The Vice-President:

The Vice-President must be a member of the Union belonging to the Part I or Part II class of +3 course. In the absence of the President the Vice-President shall assume all her rights and discharge all her duties.

The Secretary:

Any member of the Union can stand for the Secretary ship of the Union.

1. The Secretary shall arrange debates, give notice of ordinary meetings and record the minutes of all meetings whether annual, ordinary or extraordinary.

2. The Secretary shall select the subject of debate in consultation with the President and the Advisor.

The Assistant Secretary:

The Assistant Secretary must be a member of the Union belonging to the Part‑I or Part‑II of +3 course. The Asst. Secretary shall assist the Secretary in the discharge of her duties and in her absence, perform all her functions

Elections:

 Once in the beginning of each session, on such date as the Principal may appoint after admissions to different classes are over, elections shall be held for the different offices of the Students’ Union, provided that normal conditions prevail.

1. Nominations to such elections duly seconded shall reach the Principal in writing at least seven days before the date of election.

2. (a)      Every member of the Union has the right to vote in every election.
   (b)      No member shall give more than one vote for each office to be filled.

3. Elections shall be conducted and votes recorded, attested in such manner as the Principal may determine. 

4. The candidate obtaining the largest number of valid votes shall be declared elected.
   In case of an equality of votes between any two or more candidates the election of the successful candidates shall be determined by lot.

   The office bearers of the Students’ Union shall assume their responsibility after they take an oath in the following form.

   I …………………………. having been elected as ……………………. ……………………… of the Tulasi Women’s College     Students’ Union do hereby solemnly affirm that I shall discharge my duties earnestly and sincerely in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

   The oath shall be administered by the Principal or his nominee on such date and in such manner as he may think fit.

5. Subject to the provisions of Rules 17 and 18 below the office bearers shall hold office till they are relieved in the next Annual Meeting unless they –

   (i)    Cease to be members of the Students’ Union.

   (ii)    Voluntarily resign in writing addressed to the Principal.

6. An office bearer who fails in the proper discharge of her duties can be removed by a vote of non-confidence passed by three-fourths of the Union.

7. Office bearers who are +3 Part‑III students shall be deemed to have vacated their offices by the end of December. If the President and the Secretary vacate their offices on the above ground, then the Vice-President and the Assistant Secretary shall succeed them respectively as the Acting President and Acting Secretary. 

8. Any office falling vacant in spite of these arrangements will be filled by holding a by-election. The procedure for the by-election will be the same as for the election at the beginning of the session. 

9. After the election, on such date as the Principal may appoint, The Annual Meeting of the Union shall be held where - 

   (a)     The outgoing office bearers shall be relieved;

   (b)     The newly elected office bearers shall assume office;

   (c)     The newly elected office bearers shall be administered oath by the Principal or his nominee; and

   (d)     The outgoing Secretary will present annual report and an audited account of the Students’ Union, for the preceding session for the approval of the General Body.

10. The Principal or his nominee shall preside over the Annual Meeting. 

Ordinary Meeting:

1. Ordinary meetings of the Union shall be arranged by the Secretary in consultation with the President and with the approval of the Advisor.

2. Such meetings of the Union shall ordinarily take place on every alternate working Friday.

3. No ordinary meeting of the Union shall last for more than two and half hours.

Notice

1.                 The Secretary shall cause a notice to be issued two days before each ordinary meeting containing the following particulars.

(i) Date of the Meeting; (ii) Place of the Meeting; (iii) Subject for debate and; (iv) Name of the least the first four speakers in order.

Invitation of non-Members for Debates:

The Secretary may, with the permission of the Principal invite a person or persons who are not members of the college to take part in the debate. Such person or persons will speak after the motion has been duly proposed and opposed by members of the Union.

Amendments to Motion:

1. Notices of amendments must be put into the box reserved for that purpose by Twelve Noon on the day preceding the date of the meeting.

2. No amendment will be in order which in effect directly negates the original motion for debate or inconsistent with motion.

Procedure at the Meeting:

In the absence of both the President and the Vice-President from an ordinary meeting the members present will elect a Chairman from among themselves, the Advisor or her Deputy taking the Chair until the election is over. The Chairman shall assume all the rights and discharge all the duties of the President during the meeting. 

At the Commencement of each ordinary meeting, the Secretary shall read the minutes of the last ordinary meeting and the subsequent meeting of the Union, if any. The minutes on being approved by the members present shall be signed by the President. 

Every speech shall be relevant to the subject of debate or the amendment proposed. No personal reflection shall be made in the course of the meeting.

No member other than the mover of a motion shall speak more than once in the course of the debate. At the conclusion of the debate the mover may, at her option, reply to the debate.

The mover and the second speaker (oppose) may speak for eight minutes each. The other speakers shall speak for not more than five minutes each. This time can be reduced by the President of a meeting if she finds the number of speakers to be too many to be adjusted within two and half hours.

The President may, if she so desires, take part in the debate, the Vice-President or in the latter’s absence some one else, at the President’s request taking the chair while she does so. 

Discussion of Amendments:

1. Not more than one amendment to the motion under discussion may be brought forward in the course of an ordinary meeting.

2. The President of an ordinary meeting shall decide at the meeting which one of the amendments received in accordance with rule 25(a) shall form the subject matter of debate.

3. An amendment to a motion shall be discussed only after the first four speakers on that motion have spoken.

4. No amendment shall be valid which is not duly seconded at the meeting.

5. An amendment to a motion shall be discussed only after the first four speakers on that motion have spoken.

6. No amendment shall be valid which is not duly seconded at the meeting.

7. When an amendment is proposed and seconded members may, at their option speaker either on the amendment or on the original motion. 

Vote on Debates:

At the conclusion of the debate, as soon as the mover of the original motion has exercised or formally waived her right of reply, the amendment, if any, shall first be put to vote. If the amendment is carried, the motion, as amended shall be put to vote. 

All questions of the debate shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present.If the votes are equally divided, the President shall decide the question by lot

Points of Order:

The Advisor, her Deputy or any member, may call the President’s attention to a point of order even while a member is speaking but no speech shall be made on such point of order.

Discipline:

The President may call any member to order. If a member disobeys or disregards any order or ruling of the President or the Advisor or of her Deputy, the President may forthwith ask the member to withdraw from the meeting and may report her name to the Principal. If necessary the President may dissolve the meeting.

In any case not provided for by these rules, the Advisor or her Deputy shall give a ruling to the procedure on the principles already laid down and her ruling shall be final.

Extraordinary Meeting:

An extraordinary meeting of the Union may be convened–

1. at the Principal’s discretion;

2. on the written requisition addressed to the Principal and signed by not less than 100 members of the Union; or

3. on the request of the President to the Principal.

The Principal or any person nominated by him shall preside over the extraordinary meetings, when this is a deemed necessary by the Principal.

Amendment to Rules:

1. Amendments to any of these rules shall be considered at the Annual Meeting of the Union.

2. No amendment will be in order which is not duly seconded and of which a week’s clear notice has not been received.

3. An amendment before it becomes effective, must be passed by a majority of three fourths of the members present at the Annual Meeting and must receive the approval of the Principal.

4. The present Constitution shall be interpreted whenever necessary, by the Advisor and such interpretation shall be final and shall not be called into question, or discussed at any meeting of the Union.

 No amendment to any of these rules will be given effect to before the next session, i.e., if an amendment is passed in 1989-90, it will be given effect to in 1990-91.

The Principal shall be the final authority in all matters relating to the Union.