Minutes of First Regular Meeting of the New Executive Committee held on 23rd July 2022 at 11 am in the Delhi High Court, Campus Lawyers Chamber, Block No. III

However, effort should be made to spend as minimum as possible and the communications to the members be made on email and whatsapp as far as possible and rarely by post/courier.

The office staff should be engaged on part time basis and in temporary capacity on such remuneration as may be fixed by the President.

 

Agenda Nos. 5 -  Authorization of the office bearers for operation of the SB Account No.1065443768 with the Central Bank of India, Nizamuddin, New Delhi.

And

Agenda No. 6 - Delegation of financial powers for sanction of the expenditure and for withdrawal of the amount by cheque from the bank:

The Secretary General informed that the Association has only one savings bank account No. 1065443768 with the Central Bank of India, Nizamuddin, New Delhi. Now, the President and Secretary General residing at Lucknow feel that it will not be convenient to operate the account from Lucknow and therefore, it is suggested that it should be transferred to another branch of the same bank at Lucknow. It was therefore resolved that the President may request the Central Bank of India, Nizamuddin West Branch, New Delhi, to transfer all the four fixed deposit receipts and the SB Account to its Lucknow Branch nearest to the residence of the Secretary General.

As regards the authorization of the office bearers, it was resolved that the President will be competent to sanction all the expenditure to be incurred in the connection with the work of the Association, prior to the withdrawal of any amount through cheque from the bank or from the imprest account. It was further resolved that the Vice President Justice Shailendra Saxena, Secretary General Justice Mahendra Dayal and Secretary Justice S.N.Agnihotri will be competent to sign the cheque, but at one time any two of them will be competent to sign the cheque for the amount exceeding Rs. 10,000/- after sanction of the expenditure by the President and their specimen Signatures will be sent to the bank duly attested by the President along with a true copy of this resolution for compliance by the bank. It was further resolved that the Secretary General Justice Mahendra Dayal will be competent to sign the cheque alone for an amount not exceeding Rs. 10,000/- only.

 

Agenda No. 7- Consideration for creating an Imprest account with the Secretary General to defray daily and routine expenses:

          The Secretary General stated that like any other office some amount is needed as an Imprest account to meet daily and routine expenses. He therefore, suggested that the Secretary General of the Association should have Imprest account of Rs. 10,000/-. After due consideration it was resolved that an Imprest account of Rs. 10,000/- be maintained and kept at the disposal of the Secretary General who will recoup the said amount on spending more than 50% thereof, after getting the sanction of the President to withdraw the balance amount.

 

Agenda No. 8- Consideration of the audit report for the financial year ending 31st March, 2022:

          The Secretary General presented the audit report of the Financial Year ending 31 March, 2022 submitted by Kashyap Sikdar & Company (CA) New Delhi. After due deliberation it was resolved that the audit report be approved and a true copy thereof be sent to the Registrar of Societies Government of NCT, New Delhi, in compliance of Section 4(B) of the Societies Registration Act, as amended by Delhi Government.

 

Agenda No. 9- Consideration for engagement of the auditor for auditing the accounts for the financial year ending 31st March 2023:

The Secretary General informed that M/s Kashyap Sikadar & Company has refused to do audit work of the Association for the Financial Year 2022-23 and onwards because of his employment somewhere else and therefore, he suggests that another auditor is required to be engaged for audit work. As the power has been delegated by the General Assembly held on 24th April 2022, at Judicial Training & Research Institute at Lucknow, to the Executive Committee, it was considered necessary to engage an auditor from Lucknow as the President and Secretary General are settled at Lucknow. In this connection the President has received only one bio-data of Shailja and Associates (CA) having office at Lucknow. It was resolved that Agarwal Shailja & Associates (CA) having office at 3/131, Vishwas Khand Gomtinagar, Lucknow 226010, be engaged on a fixed remuneration of Rs. 10,000/- for auditing the accounts of the Association and filing the income tax return for the FY 2022-23 and assessment year 2023-24 respectively.

  

Agenda No. 10 - Admission of Members of the Association:

And                               

Agenda No. 11- Consideration of the policy for determining the status of the annual members who have failed to pay their yearly installments for the last several years:

The Secretary General pointed out that so far there are two categories of Members namely life members and the Ordinary Members. The Life members were required to pay one-time fee of Rs. 10,000/- and Ordinary members were required to pay annually Rs. 2,500/- only. As per resolution of the General Assembly, it was provided that if ordinary members desire to become life members they may deposit the balance of Rs. 7,500/- along with the application of the membership duly filled and signed.

Accordingly some members only deposited the balance amount of Rs 7,500/- along with the application and became life members, but the majority of the ordinary members neither paid the annual subscription nor responded to any communication made on email, whatsapp and even by registered post. After deliberations, it was resolved that there should be only one category of life members who deposit one-time fee of Rs. 10,000/- along with the revised membership application containing all the necessary details. As regards the ordinary members still on the list of the Association, they may be finally given an opportunity to become life members within a month from the date of communication to them. In case of non-compliance, ordinary members will cease to be ordinary member of the Association and will be delisted.

It was further resolved that the power to admit life members be delegated to the President and the Executive Committee should only be informed about the new members in its next meeting. The receipt of fee paid by the life members be issued by the Secretary General or the Secretary or in their absence by the President to the member concerned after realization of the amount of the cheque in the bank account.

 

Agenda No. 12 - Formation of Committees and Sub-committees, for looking after various matters

The Secretary General pointed out that the members who have filed writ petitions in the Supreme Court and High Court have desired in the last General Assembly to have some assistance from the Association, but the details of such litigations are not available with the office of the Association. Therefore, the President in the emergent meeting of the Executive Committee held on 1st May 2022 allotted this work of litigation to the Secretary Justice S.N.Agnihotri to collect the information of such litigations, examine them and suggest the measures to be taken. The President has also entrusted Justice J.K. Ranka the work of State Chapters. There may be need for distribution of work to committees and sub-committees. It was therefore, resolved that a committee to look after the litigation be constituted of the following members:-

1. Justice N.K.Mody (Team Leader)

2. Justice D.K. Trivedi (Associate)

3. Justice S. Samvatsar (Associate)

4. Justice S.S. Kulshreshtra (Associate)

5. Justice Sudhir Kumar Saxena (Associate)

6. Justice V.C. Gupta (Associate)

7. Justice S.N. Agnihotri (Associate)

 

This committee is also authorized to associate with them any other practicing member before the Hon’ble Supreme Court or any other High Court, so that effective pairvi in the litigation may be possible.

It was further resolved that the Secretary Justice J.K. Ranka be made in-charge and team leader of the State Chapters with the authority to Associate the other members of the State Chapters for required assistance.

It was further resolved that as and when some need or situation arises the President may constitute a committee or sub-committee for the specific work of the Association, or assign any duty or responsibility to any life member of the Association for the specific purpose.

 

Agenda No. 13- Consideration of the President’s proposal for amendments in the rules of the Association framed in 2001 at the time of incorporation of the Association:

The President after perusal of the Association rules 2001 considered necessary to suggest amendments on the basis of the resolutions of the General Assembly passed in the past and the practices prevailing in the working of the Association. The draft of amended rules was emailed to the office bearers on 29th May 2022, inviting suggestions/objections by 20th June, 2022. Only Justice I.S.Srivastava had given his suggestion to delete the condition of the length of the membership for the eligibility of the office bearers and suggesting that instead only the age of 70 years and 72 years be prescribed to contest the office of the Vice President and President respectively. Justice I.S.Srivastava had also personally attended the meeting and asserted his suggestions and the other office bearers also agreed with suggestions. It was therefore, resolved that the president’s draft of amended rules be modified accordingly and be placed for approval before the General Assembly.

 

Agenda No. 14 - Consideration of the need to summon the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly for the purpose of the consideration of the proposed amendments in the rules and budget of the Association of the Association:

The Secretary General pointed out that in the last General Assembly held on 24th April 2022, in Judicial Training & Research Institute at Lucknow, there was no agenda for the approval of the budget for the Financial Year 2022-23, whereas under the existing rules of 2001, the Executive Committee is required to submit the estimated budget for approval of the general Assembly. It is not proper to incur expenditure without approval of the General Assembly. It is therefore, desirable to summon the extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly as early as possible. Moreover, the draft of the amended rules accepted by the Executive Committee also need approval of the General Assembly because the state chapters are being covered by the rules as integral constituents of the Association.

It was therefore, resolved that an extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly for approval of the proposed amendments and for approval of the estimated budget be summoned on 6th August 2022,(Saturday) at 11 AM in the conference room of the Judicial Training & Research Institute at Vineet Khand, Gomtinagar, Lucknow 226010, and an agenda for proposed meeting be sent to the life members only. The meeting should be arranged physically as well as virtually.

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Agenda No. 15 - Consideration of the report on the status of the State Chapters of the Association:

Justice J.K.Ranka Secretary of the Association who was made in-charge of the work of the State Chapters informed that less than half of the High Courts are having state chapters, but the details of the Chairperson, Chapter Executive, Chapters Secretary and other members have not been sent either  by the state chapters or the concerned High Courts. After due deliberations and considering the difficulties faced in this regard, it was resolved that Justice J.K.Ranka should continue with his efforts through any retired Judge available at the seat of the High Court and persuade him to make a state chapter and obtain the details of the office bearers. In the alternative, the Registrar General of the High Courts, be requested to send a copy of the Annual diary of the High Court, so that the names, residence and contact numbers of the retired Judges may be known and persuasive action be taken with them. The result of such efforts may be conveyed to the Executive Committee in its next meeting.

 

Agenda No. 16- Consideration of the report relating to the pending litigation by the members before the Hon’ble High Courts and the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India about less pension:

Justice S.N.Agnihotri was assigned the work of collecting information about the pending litigations by the members of the Association in the various High Courts and Supreme Court but despite his letters to the Registrar Generals of the High Courts and the Secretary General of the Supreme Court, the details could not be obtained. As such no discussion is possible on this item. It was therefore resolved that this item be deferred to the next meeting and Justice S.N.Agnihotri may be requested to continue his efforts and submit his report in the next meeting.

Agenda No. 17 - Filling of one vacancy of member in the Executive Committee, as per authority delegated by the General Assembly held on 24th April, 2022:

The office bearers were of the opinion that the vacancy of one Executive member should be filled in by selecting a member from an area which is not represented in the New Executive Committee, but at present no such name is being suggested. Therefore, it was resolved that this item may be deferred for the next meeting, so that by then the office bearers may find a suitable member for the Executive Committee.

 

Agenda No. 18- Consideration for adoption of a logo of the Association:

The Office Bearers considered and approved the idea that the Association should have a logo but wanted time to suggest different kinds of logo, so that it may be easy to select the best one. This item was therefore deferred to the next meeting.

 

Agenda No. 19- Consideration of the form of the seal of the Association:

          The Office Bearers agreed unanimously that the association must have a seal of its own as approved by the President.

 

Agenda No. 20- Fixation of the date, time and venue of the next meeting of the Executive Committee:

          It was resolved that the next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held on 15th October 2022, at Jaipur and Justice Ranka will inform the venue and time of the meeting in due course of time.

 

Agenda No. 21- Any other matter of importance with the permission of the President:

          Under this head the Office Bearers had pointed out that discussion on the disparity in domestic allowance in different states be held and the amendment regarding the additional pension made in the Supreme Court and High Court judges (service condition) Act, be challenged in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Both these subjects were specifically added as additional Agenda No.1 and No.2.

 

As regards Additional Agenda No.1- It was deliberated in detail and the different rates of domestic allowance available to retired Judges in different states were also highlighted. It was resolved that the concerned state chapters should persuade their Chief Justice to take up the matters with the Chief Minister to approve the domestic allowance and other allowance equal to the pay of the High Court peon with Dearness allowance and annual increments so that parity in all these states be ensured.

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Additional Agenda No. 2- Hon’ble Justice D.K. Trivedi and Hon’ble Justice Subhash Samvatsar informed that the amendment to the High Court Judges Act, should be challenged in the Supreme Court by the Association. The office bearers were agreeable that these members may be assisted in challenging the amendments. Justice D.K. Trivedi also assured that he will prepare a draft of Writ petition specifying the grounds for the challenge of the amendments. Hon’ble Justice Subhash Samvatsar also informed that he can himself challenge the amendment of the Act. It was therefore, resolved that Hon’ble Justice D.K. Trivedi and Justice Subhash Samvatsar be given all the possible assistance by the litigation committee in challenging the amendments in the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

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The business of the Executive Committee fixed for the day finished at 1.30 pm and the lunch was hosted by the President of the Association. The meeting ended with thanks to the Chair.

Approved for circulation to office bearers.

 

Justice K.L. Sharma                          Justice Mahendra Dayal