In these present the words standing in the first column of the table, next hereinafter contained, shall bear the meaning set opposite to them respectively, in the second column hereof, if not consistent with the subject of context.

The aims and objects of the Association shall be :

Article of Association

1.MEMBERSHIP

(i) Annual Member : Membership of the Association is open to teachers, and research scientists in the discipline of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry in a medical institution and to those in the discipline of Immunology, Endocrinology, Nutrition, Pathology, Molecular Biology and allied subjects whose work is related to clinical biochemistry. Those persons who are engaged in the practice of Clinical Biochemistry either in a hospital or in private and posses M.D. or Ph.D. or Diplomate of National Board, M.Sc. in Medical Biochemistry or M.B.B.S. or equivalent qualification can also be taken as member. Annual member shall pay annual subscription.

(ii) Founder Member : Those members of the Association who formed themselves into an Association before the inaugural meeting of the Association shall be called Founder Members. The names of founder Members is given earlier and shall be kept inscribed on a tablet or any other material to be hung in the office.

(iii) Life Member :
(a) Annual members / Founder members / Any person eligible for Annual membership shall pay in one installment ten years annual membership fee at any time to become life Member. Life Members shall not be required to pay the annual membership subscription.

(b) Life Membership subscription can also be paid in three annual installments equivalent to total of ten years annual membership fee together with some surcharge as decided by General Body. Such installment paying member shall become Life Member only after all installments have been fully paid.

(iv) Honorary Member : Eminent scientists of Clinical or Medical Biochemistry or of any other discipline may be made an Honorary member on the recommendation of the Council. The total number of such members shall not exceed thirty at any one time. Honorary member shall enjoy the privilege of Life member except the right to vote or be elected as office bearers. Honorary member shall not pay membership subscription.

(v) Sessional Member :
(a) Any person who has interest in Clinical or Medical Biochemistry and wants to attend the Annual Conference, Convention, Workshop, Symposium etc., being organised by the Association, without becoming member of the Association, can be enrolled as Sessional Member for the session by the Organising Secretary, on payment of an amount equivalent to annual membership subscription and the registration fee of the session.

(b) Such sessional members shall not enjoy the voting right or right to be elected as office bearers, and are not entitled to receive News Bulletin, IJCB, and other publications free of charge, except papers related to that session .

(c) The sessional membership subscription paid by the sessional member shall be remitted to the central office. The registration fee and other charges paid by the member shall be retained by the Organising Secretary.

(vi) Associate Member : Those scientists who are not eligible for membership but have interest in Clinical Biochemistry can become Life Associate Member on payment of ten years annual subscription. Such members shall enjoy all privileges of a Life member except voting right and the right to be elected office bearers.

(vii) Corporate Member :
(a) A scientific firm, dealing in materials required for clinical Biochemistry wants to become a member of this Association, can be enrolled as Corporate Member on payment of an amount as decided by the General Body from time to time. One or more representatives can attend meetings on payment of registration fee.

(b) Such corporate members shall not pay the Annual subscription.

(c) Corporate members shall not enjoy the voting right or right to be elected office bearers. Members shall form an Electoral College, who can elect a representative on the council.

(d) Corporate member can sponsor scientific programme or invite speakers for special lectures in consultation with Secretary or Organising secretary.

(e) Corporate members can give corporate news for publication in News Bulletin

(2) MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION

(i) The annual membership subscription shall be an amount to be determined by the General Body from time to time. The present rate of subscription is given in Annexure-3.

(ii) The annual membership subscription as well as that for life subscription by installment shall be payable in advance by 31st January of the year.

(iii) An extension of 2 more months shall be allowed to enable the member to pay the dues, after which name shall be removed from membership.

(3) ELECTION OF MEMBERS

(i) Members of all categories shall be elected by the Council, at any meeting, after being introduced by a member about the standing and eligibility on a prescribed form obtainable from the Secretary, or the Head Office (Annexure-3). This can also be down loaded from ACBI Website.

(ii) The Council shall nevertheless be empowered to elect such other suitable candidate as may apply for election, who from special circumstances, may not be personally known to any member of the Association.

(iii) The sessional Members for Conference shall be admitted by the Organising Secretary of the conference to whom the application has to be made, or by the General Secretary.

(4) TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP

The membership will be terminated in the following cases :
(i)   Due to death.
(ii)  Acceptance of resignation by the Council.
(iii) Due to non-payment of membership subscription by March of the year. He or she can become member again on fresh application.
(iv) The Council shall have power to remove a person from membership due to any one of the following reasons :
(a)  Due to any action by the member which is against the interest of the Association.
(b)  Due to lunacy.

(5) STATE OR UNION TERRITORY BRANCH

(i) The Association shall encourage the formation of branches of the Association at the State/Union territory level where there is a minimum strength of twelve members. There shall be only one branch in one state or territory.

(ii) The Association shall encourage members of such State/territory where there are less than twelve members, to join the adjoining State/Union territory branch.

(iii) The rules for the management of the State/Union territory branch shall be framed by the State/Union Territory Committee. They shall be consistent with the rules of the Association and shall be approved by the Council. The chief of the Branch shall be known as the Chairman.

(iv) The State/Union Territory Branch shall hold scientific meetings and all activities shall be reported to the General Secretary.

(v) On request from the Branch Secretary the Head Office will pay 10 percent of the annual subscription collected from Ordinary Members and from the interest accrued on the amount paid by the Life Members on furnishing previous years expenditure account.

(vi) The Secretary of the branch should generally be the state representative on the Executive Council of the main organisation.

(vii) Any city within a state, having 12 or more members, if they so desire, can have a city chapter of ACBI under the state branch. They will have convenor but no secretary or chairman.

(6) MANAGEMENT

The Association shall be managed by a Council. The Council shall consist of :
(i)    President -  One
(ii)   Vice-President - Two
(iii)  General Secretary - One
(iv)  Joint Secretary - Two
(v)   Treasurer - One
(vi)   Councillors - Six
(vii) Branch Representatives - One from each branch

Generally Branch Secretary shall be branch representative who shall be elected by branch members any time before the General Body meeting. The branch representatives name shall be given to the Secretary before the G.B. Meeting. If no name comes, then the G.B. will nominate someone from that State or empower the President to do so.

(viii) Co-Opted Members: The President may co-opt to a maximum of two members from amongst the Annual and Life Members, to a meeting of the council. The co-opted Members shall have the voting rights.

(ix) Ex-Officio Members :
           (a)  All Past Presidents
           (b)  Immediate Past General Secretary
           (c)  Chairman of the Editorial Board
           (d)  Chairman of other committees
Ex-Officio members also shall have voting right.

(x) Corporate Representative : All corporate member together shall elect one representative to be called Corporate Representative, who shall be a member of the Council with voting right but can not be elected office bearer.
 

Note : The Treasurer and one Joint Secretary (Head Quarter) shall be from Head Quarter and the other Joint Secretary shall be nominated by the President from members of his/her place.

(7) FUNCTION AND DUTIES OF THE COUNCIL

The Council shall perform the following functions :
(a) To exercise the rights and powers conferred by the General Body.
(b) To manage the funds.
(c) To consider application for membership.
(d) To consider the resignation of members.
(e) To fulfill the directions of the Association as given by the resolutions of the General Body meeting.
(f) To examine the accounts of income and expenditure of the Association of the year and of previous year for which Auditor has given report.

            A special Committee consisting of :
               (i) A Joint Secretary,
               (ii) a Councilor
              (iii) a State representative shall also examine the accounts submitted by the Secretary and Treasure during Conference. Their report shall be discussed in the following council meeting during the same conference.

(g) To prepare budget.
(h) To perform day-to-day functions of the Association.
(i)  To entrust duties on members.

(8) DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF OFFICE-BEARERS

(i) President: The President shall preside over the meetings and also guide the activities of the Association.

(ii) Vice-President : The Vice-President shall act on behalf of President in his/her absence.

(iii) General Secretary : The General Secretary shall manage the affairs of the Association according to the directions of the General Body, the Council and the President.

(iv) Joint Secretary : The Joint Secretary shall act on behalf of the General Secretary in his absence and carry out such duties as and when assigned to him. The joint secretary (Head Quarter) will be responsible for managing Head Office.

(v) Treasurer : The Treasurer shall maintain an account of the Association and work in co-ordination with the Secretary.


(9) METHOD OF ELECTION

(i) President : The Organising Secretary of the Annual Conference shall be the President for the term following the Conference after having been installed at the Inaugural function till the next Conference is held. Same person can not hold office of President for 2 consecutive terms.

(ii) Organising Secretary for the next conference ( 1st. Vice President) : The Organising Secretary elected by the General Body to organise next Annual Conference shall also hold the office of Vice President for one term till he/she succeeds as President.

(iii) Second Vice-President shall be elected by voting members along with other office bearers and shall hold office till the next conference.

(iv) Secretary, Joint Secretary (Head Quarter), Second Jt. Secretary Treasurer and six Councilors shall also be elected by voting members only. The term of office of Secretary, Joint Secretary (Head Quarter) and Treasurer shall be of 3 years unless they are removed by the GB. No one can be elected Secretary for more than 2 terms together. The second joint secretary shall be from the place of President and shall be nominated by the President. The term of office of second Joint Secretary and of Councilors shall be of one year (from one conference to the next).

(v) Procedure of Election : The Secretary shall announce the election for the various elected posts namely second Vice-President, Secretary, Joint-Secretary (Head Quarter), Treasurer and six Councilors, as and when they are required to be elected (Secretary, Joint Secretary (Head Quarter) and Treasurers term of office is 3 years), through NEWS BULLETIN or letter at least 4 months in advance of the date of the next Conference asking for nominations so as to reach the President or the Returning Officer so appointed, hereafter called RO, at least 3 months before the Conference.

The RO shall scrutinise the nominations for validity as per rules and consider the qualified nominations. If there are more than the required number of valid nominations for one or more posts, then election for those posts shall be held by secret ballot. The RO shall prepare a ballot paper containing names of all valid nominees for different posts for which election has to be conducted and send it to all voters (annual and life members) by post under certificate of posting at least 2 months in advance of the beginning of the coming conference with a request to the voters to return the ballot paper to him/her at least one month in advance of the conference. All the unopened ballot papers shall be opened in the Executive Council Meeting before the start of the Conference and votes counted for each post for which election has been held. The R.O. shall then announce the names of the winners as well of those who were elected uncontested in the GB meeting.

In the event of any post remaining unfilled, the Secretary shall ask for fresh nominations for those posts through a notice on the notice board of the conference as well as by an announcement on the very first day of the conference, so as to reach the President at least 3 hours before the beginning of the G.B. meeting. The President shall open the nomination envelop and if there are more than the required number of nominations then voting will take place in the G.B. meeting in a manner as decided by the G.B.

The Organising Secretary for next conference shall be chosen from amongst the Life Members and shall be deemed to be elected as 1st Vice-President. One Joint Secretary shall be nominated by the President from members of his/her place. Nomination for Joint Secretary (Head Office) shall come from members living in the city of the Head Quarter.

Note : Qualifications for various posts :

(1) Organising Secretary, President and Secretary : A candidate for these posts should be a life member of at least 5 years standing and have attended at least 3 Annual Conferences of the Association. He/She should be holding a senior post in his/her work place.

(2) Vice President (Second), Joint Secretaries and Treasurer should be a Life members of at least 4 years duration and should have attended at least 2 Annual Conferences in the last 4 years.

(3) Six Elected Council Members : should be a Life Member and who have attended at least 2 conferences in the last 4 years.

(4) State Representative should be a life member who has attended conferences regularly in the last 5 years and is fairly active in Association activities.

WHO CAN VOTE FOR THE ABOVE ELECTED POSTS :

Only Life Members and Annual Members (who have paid up-to-date subscription) can vote.
 

Nomination Form (Annexure-4) : Each nomination form must be proposed and seconded by two voting members with whom there is no dues of the Association and must bear the consent and signature of the nominee.

(10) JOURNAL

(i) The Association shall publish a journal named INDIAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL BIOCHEMISTRY. (see Annexure-2 for Instruction to authors and for subscription rate.)

(ii) The Journal shall be edited by a Board of Editors consisting of an Editor-in-Chief and six members nominated by the Council.

(iii) The Editor-in-Chief shall be the ex-officio member of the Council.

(iv) The Board shall hold office for a period of three years.

(v) The Editor-in-Chief may nominate a Managing or Executive Editor and assign duty for publication of the journal.

(11) ANNUAL GENERAL BODY MEETINGS

(i) The annual General Body Meeting of the Association shall be held during the period of the Annual Conference once a year. Fifteen days notice in writing shall be given to every member by the General Secretary in consultation with the President.

(ii) The General Secretary shall present report of the working of the Association at the General Body Meeting.

(12 )REQUISITIONED MEETING OF THE GENERAL BODY

On the requisition by one-third members, the President shall call the meeting within one month. Only those subjects will be discussed in the requisition meeting which are given in the agenda circulated with the requisition. In case the President does not call the meeting within one month, the requisitionists shall have the right to call the meeting themselves.

(13) FUNCTIONS OF THE GENERAL BODY

The General body shall perform the following functions :

(1) To elect members and office bearers of the council,
(2) To make amendments in the Articles of the Association,
(3) To pass annual budget or to delegate this power to the council,
(4) To appoint auditors or to delegate this power to the President,
(5) To give directions to the council,
(6) The venue of the next Conference shall be decided by the General Body from amongst the proposals.

(14 )THE CONFERENCE

(i) The annual conference shall generally be held in the last week of December each year, or at a suitable time as decided by G.B. but before 31st March of next year.

(ii) At the time of the conference, besides conducting official business, scientific papers shall be presented. Symposia, group-discussions, popular lecturers & scientific exhibition shall generally be arranged.

(iii) The venue of Conference shall be decided by G.B. from amongst the proposals.

(iv) G.B. will nominate a person as Organising Secretary for the Conference usually in consultation with the group whose proposal for holding the next conference has been accepted. The Organising Secretary must be a life member of the Association of at least 5 years standing and has attended at least 60 % of the conferences in the last 5 years. He/She should be a senior member of the profession.

(15) THE COUNCIL MEETING

The meeting of the Council shall be held at least twice a year, even more if necessary. Written notice of the date of meeting will be given to the members of the Council at least fifteen days before the meeting by the General Secretary in consultation with the President.

(16) NEWS BULLETIN

It shall be published by General Secretary at least twice a year or more frequently.

(17) SOURCES OF INCOME

The income of the Association shall be from the following sources.
(i)  Subscription paid by its members.
(ii)  Donations.
(iii) 50% savings from conference or at least Rs. 20,000/- which ever is more.
(iv) Grant by Government, Universities etc.
(v)  Advertisement.
(vi)  Income from Investments.
(vii) Any other source approved by the General Body.


(18) FUNDS

The funds of the Association shall be kept in a scheduled bank at the Head Quarter. Withdrawals will be made by joint signatures of the Secretary/Secretary General/ Joint Secretary (Head office) and the Treasurer.

The Secretary can invest part of the fund in fixed deposits of recognised organisations such as Unit Trust, SAIL, etc. in order to achieve more interest. All fixed deposit accounts shall be jointly operated by authorised signatories of the main account.

Any excess over 25% of the income of the year which remains after expenditure shall form a CORPUS FUND for specific purposes such as
(i)   Building of Journal fund to aid regular publication of Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry,
(ii)  Establishment of Central Library and Research Centre,
(iii) Construction of Office Building of the Association and
(iv) other useful purposes as prescribed in the Objects of the Association.

(19) FUNDING OF LIFE MEMBERSHIP FEES

(i) As per provision of the By-laws of the Association, collection on account of life membership fees being one time receipt for the entire tenure of life of the members concerned be taken as CORPUS FUND of the ASSOCIATION and be not be treated as receipt of revenue nature. Further the income accrued or received from Investment of the said Life membership fee fund be taken as the income of the Association.

(ii )Any earmarked donation towards any specific purposes or as Corpus of the Association be similarly dealt with in the accounts of the Association.

(20) VESTING OF PROPERTIES

Properties of the Association shall remain vested in the Council.

(21) ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT

Regular written accounts of all income and expenditure shall be maintained by the Treasurer and it shall be duly audited every year by a Chartered Accountant and also by a member of the Association or Committee appointed by the President. Both the report must be placed before the General Body for approval.

(22) DISSOLUTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTIES AFTER DISSOLUTION

Dissolution of the Association, if necessary, will be by passing a resolution in the General Body Meeting with three-fifth majority of members. Property of the Association after dissolution will be utilized towards payment of debts and liabilities of the Association and the balance, if any, will not be distributed amongst the members but will be given to some other societies with similar objectives in accordance with a resolution passed in the General Body Meeting with two-third majority of members.

(23) AMENDMENT IN THE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION

(i) Amendments and alterations in the Articles of the Association, if necessary, will be by passing a resolution in the General Body Meeting with two-third majority present in the General Body meeting.

(ii) Amendment proposals shall be circulated amongst the members by the General Secretary before being placed in the General Body.

The constitution was adopted at the First General Body meeting of the founder members held at Patna on the 18th January 1975 and amended at the Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Eighteenth General Body meetings held at Madras, Baroda, Bombay, Manipal, Delhi, Wardha, Kottayam, on 2nd February 1976, 7th January 197, 27th December 1978, 20th December 1980, 20th December 1982, 22nd February 1992, 29th January 1994, 29th January 1994, 26th December 1996, respectively.