The Society that is established under these Rules and Regulations shall be known as the Dam Safety Society (DSS). The income and property of the Society, however derived, shall be applied solely for the promotion of the objects set forth in the Memorandum of Association. No portion of the income and/or property of the Society shall be paid or transferred directly or indirectly, by way of dividend, bonus or otherwise by way of profit to persons who at any time are or have been members of the Society or to any one or more of them or to any persons claiming through any one or more of them, provided that nothing therein contained shall prevent the payment in good faith of reasonable remuneration, honoraria, perquisites, out of pocket expenses, interest on money lent to the Society, facilities of any nature whatsoever to any member, office bearer or any one else as the Governing Council deems fit in return for any services rendered to the Society.

Definitions

• “Governing Council” means the body, by whatever name called, entrusted for the time being with the management of the Society under its rules and regulations;
• “Governing Body” means the body consisting of members of the society.
• “Memorandum” means the Memorandum of Association referred to in Section 2 of the Societies Registration Act 1860.
• “Registered office” means the registered office mentioned in the Memorandum.
• “Office bearers” mean members of the Governing Council, namely, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary General and Treasurer.
• “President” means the President or the formal head by whatever name called, of the Society and includes a person who for the time being acts as the formal head;
• “Vice President” means the Vice President of the Society.
• “Secretary General” means the Secretary General of the Society.
• “Treasurer” means the Treasurer of the Society.

Funds

The funds for meeting the expenditure on the activities of the Society shall consist of:

• Membership fees
• Financial support from external funding agencies
• Grants from Central and State Governments
• Contributions from water and power-related organizations
• Receipts from fund raising campaigns
• Annual interest on investments
• Donations and gifts

Donations And Gifts

Acceptance of donations, etc

The Governing Council may accept the management of any endowment or trust fund or subscription or donation, provided that it is unaccompanied by any condition inconsistent or in-conflict with the objects of the Society.

Acceptance of gifts

The Society may accept a gift of any kind from any person or organisation for a specific purpose and such a gift or any part thereof shall not be used for any other purpose without the written consent of the donor or if the donor be dead, or wound up without the written consent of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.

General Assembly of the Society shall be composed of :

• Institutional Members
• Individual Members

Institutional Members

The Governing Council may admit as Institutional Member, any organization concerned with dam safety. This membership would facilitate the transfer of rights of member organizations to any two of their staff to represent that organization during the period of membership.

Individual Members

The Governing Council may admit as Individual Member any individual associated with the dam safety management. Individual membership is not transferable

General Assembly Meeting

The General Assembly shall meet once in every year. Not more than 15 months will elapse between two successive annual meetings.

Business to be transacted at the General Assembly Meeting

• To decide the broad activities to be undertaken by the Society during the ensuing year;
• To adopt the annual report of the Society;
• To pass the audited accounts of the Society.

A Special Meeting of the General Assembly may be held for considering amendments to the Memorandum of Association & Rules and Regulations of the Society, or on requisition by one-fourth of the members on the Register of Members of the Society.

The General Assembly meeting shall be convened by giving not less than 15- day notice. A similar notice will be required to be given in the case of a Special Meeting of the General Assembly.

Non-receipt of notice of meeting by any member shall not invalidate any resolution passed or decision taken at such meeting.

No business shall be transacted at the General Assembly Meeting unless the prescribed quorum is in place. Save as herein otherwise provided, one-fifth of the membership or 25 members present at the meeting, whichever is less, shall be the quorum.

If within 30 minutes from the time fixed the holding the General Assembly Meeting the quorum is not in place, the Meeting, if convened on the requisition of members shall be deemed as dissolved; in the case of the annual General Assembly Meeting, it shall stand adjourned for 30 minutes and the proceedings shall start thereafter with the number of members present.

The President shall preside over the General Assembly Meeting. If the President is not present at the meeting, then one of the Vice Presidents present will preside. In the absence of both the President and the Vice Presidents, the members present shall choose a member from among themselves to preside over the meeting.

Governing Council

The Governing Council shall consist of all office bearers of the Society, four individual members and a representative each from member organisations. The office bearers and the individual members of the Governing Council shall be elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term.

Quorum for the Governing Council

One-third of the members of the Governing Council present in person shall constitute the quorum for any meeting of the Governing Council.

Any business that may be necessary for the Governing Council to transact may also be transacted by circulation in writing among all members of the Governing Council, and any resolution so circulated and approved by a majority of the members of the Governing Council shall be deemed to have been passed at a meeting of the Governing Council.

All issues at a meeting of the Governing Council shall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present. In case of a tie, the President shall have a casting vote.

Powers and Functions

General Assembly

• supreme body
• to lay down policies, indicate priorities and elect the Governing Council;
• to give judgements on matters related to interpretation of the provisions of Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations;
• to approve annual report and audited statement of accounts
• to approve annual plan of activities proposed by the Governing Council; and
• to amend, as necessary, provisions of the Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations as per the procedure laid down in the Societies Registration Act.

Governing Council

• to consider and decide on applications for membership
• to prepare annual and other plans of activities
• to prepare annual budget
• to appoint auditors
• to set up committees as deemed necessary or as directed by the General Assembly;
• to take measures to implement the decisions of General Assembly and its own decisions.

President

• to preside over the meetings of General Assembly and the Governing Council and approve minutes of meeting
• to supervise the overall functioning of the Society
• to mobilize funds for the Society
• to represent the Society at the various events or depute others for the same.
• to perform such functions as may be assigned to him in the bye-laws.

Vice President

• senior most VP to perform the functions of the President in his absence and to perform such functions as may be assigned to him by the President/ Governing Council/General Assembly;
• senior most VP available in the assembly to officiate as President when the post of the President is vacant due to his resignation or any other reason;
• Each of the VP shall be incharge of Activities, Finance and Membership respectively and to perform such functions as may be assigned to him in the bye-laws.

Secretary General

• to convene meetings of General Assembly and Govering Council with the approval of the President;
• to prepare and submit to President the minutes of the meetings and annual report for his approval;
• to maintain a Register of Members and provide the same to any member on demand
• to sanction expenditure, with the approval of President, within approved budget for Society’s activity
• to render any such function as may be assigned to him in the bye-laws.

Treasurer

• to supervise maintenance of accounts and all records thereon;
• to be responsible for annual auditing of accounts and submission to appropriate authorities;
• to prepare annual budget for presentation to Governing Council and General Assembly;
• to help President in mobilizing funds for the Society;
• to perform such other functions as may be assigned to him in the bye-laws.

Bye-laws

The Governing Council shall have powers to make such bye-laws as they deem necessary for conduct of business of the Society and in particular with reference to the conduct of election for the Governing Council, preparation and sanction of budget estimates, sanctioning of expenditure, entering into contracts for and on behalf of the Society, and investment of funds of the Society, and approving of the audited accounts on an annual basis for placing before the General Assembly.

Membership

All applications for membership of the Society shall be made in writing to the Secretary General who shall place such applications before the Governing Council. The Governing Council shall consider such applications and decide whether or not to admit an applicant to the membership applied for. Where the Governing Council decides to admit an applicant to the membership of the Society, such membership shall be deemed to commence from the date of decision. The decision of the Governing Council to admit or to refuse membership of the Society shall be final.

The membership fee is payable on a calendar year basis, as follows:

Institutional Member

India : Rs 50,000
Other Countries : US $ 1000

Individual Member

India : Rs 1000
Other Countries : US $ 20

Lifetime Individual Member

India : Rs 10,000
Other Countries : US $ 200

Payment of membership fee by members from India shall be in equivalent Indian Rupees. The members from other countries shall pay their fee in US dollars. The membership fee entitles members to receive Society’s bulletin, if any. The Institutional Members will also receive a copy of the bulletim and Journal on Dam Safety after its publication.

A member shall cease to be a member on account of :

• member's failure to pay membership fee continuously for two years;
• the General Assembly meeting of the Society finding by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the members present and voting that the continuance of the member is prejudicial to the interests of the Society.

Any member who ceases to be a member may be re-admitted to the Society on such terms and conditions as the Governing Council may decide.

Register of Members

The Society shall maintain, at its registered office, a register of its members and shall enter therein the following particulars, namely:

• the name and address (including e-mail address wherever available) of each member;
• the date on which the member was admitted; and
• the date on which the member ceased to be such.

Office Bearers

The office bearers of the Society shall be:

• President
• Vice Presidents (3 Nos.)
• Secretary General
• Treasurer

The office bearers shall be elected for a term of three years each by the General Assembly.

All the above office bearers will function in an honorary capacity. However, honorarium may be paid to them as decided by the Governing Council subject to availability of funds.

Properties of the Society

The properties, movable or immovable, belonging to the Society shall be deemed to be vested, for the time being, in the Governing Council of the Society, and in all proceedings, civil and criminal, may be described as the property of the Governing Council of the Society for their proper title.

Legal Matters

For the purpose of section 6 of the Societies Registration Act, the Secretary General shall be the Principal Secretary of the Society and the Society may sue or be sued in the name of the Secretary General.

Amendments

The General Assembly shall have the powers to amend the Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations, as may be deemed necessary from time to time, following the procedure laid down in sections 12 and 12-A of the Societies Registration Act.

Disqualified Members

In all proceedings under the Act, no person shall be entitled to vote or be counted as a member whose membership fee at the time shall have been in arrears for a period exceeding four months.

Audit of Accounts

The Society shall keep at its registered office proper books of accounts in which shall be entered accurately:

• all sums of money received and the sources thereof and all sums of money expended by the Society and the object or purpose for which sums are expended;
• the assets and liabilities of the Society.

The Society shall have its account audited once in a year by a duly qualified auditor and have a balance sheet prepared by him. The auditor shall also submit a report showing the exact state of the financial affairs of the Society.Three copies of the balance sheet and auditors report shall be certified by the auditor. The accounts so audited shall be circulated to members along with the Annual Report of the Society.

Operation of Bank Accounts

The Society may have one or more bank accounts as decided by the Governing Council. The bank accounts shall be operated jointly by the Secretary General and Treasurer.

General

No act of proceedings of the Society or its Governing Council shall be deemed to be invalid by reasons merely of any vacancy in or defect in the Constitution of the Society or of the Governing Council, as the case may be.

Dissolution the Society

If necessary, the Society may be dissolved as per the provisions of sections 13 and 14 of the Societies Registration Act.