| Soil Science Society of Pakistan |
|
|
Article 1: Name and Secretariat 1.1.
The name of the Society shall be Soil
Science Society of Pakistan
SSSP). 1.2.
Headquarters/Secretariat of the Society shall be located at
Article 2: Aims and Objectives The Soil
Science Society of Pakistan is a scientific society, and objectives of the
Society are to:
(i)
Promote soil science
research and its application;
(ii)
Create facilities and
provide platform for close cooperation among the scientists working in Soil
Science and applied disciplines; and
(iii)
Foster publication of
Soil Science Journal and Newsletter, etc. Article 3:
Membership 3.1. Those seeking
membership shall apply to General Secretary of the Society on the prescribed
Proforma along with admission fee
and annual membership fee. Executive Council of the Society shall confirm the
membership of the applicant in its next meeting provided all the formalities are
complete. Membership of the Society shall be in four categories: (i) Members
(ii) Honorary Members (iii) Patron Members
(iv) Student Members.
3.2. Members Persons holding degree in Soil Science/Agri.
Chemistry/Agronomy, but not enrolled as students in any university or college
except those who had been engaged in Soil Science profession prior to their
becoming active students, OR persons holding degree in Science and actively
engaged in Soil Science profession, shall be eligible to become Members of the
Society. 3.3. Life Members A Member can become Life Member on payment of
stipulated subscription, provided he/she has been Member of the Society at least
for a period of five (5) years continuously. 3.4. Honorary
Members Honorary Membership is the highest honor bestowed by
the Society. A person who has been a Member of the Society at least for ten (10)
years continuously may be conferred Honorary Membership of the Society in
recognition of his/her long and distinguished career in Soil Science profession.
Executive Council, through a constituted Awards Committee, will identify
prospective candidates for Honorary Membership. Executive Council will accord
approval of Honorary Membership. Honorary Members shall be exempted from payment
of dues and shall enjoy all the privileges of Members. The total number of
Honorary Members shall be limited to ten (10) at any time and not more than two
(2) shall be honored during two–year tenure of an Executive Council. New
Honorary Members will be installed at biennial Congress of Soil Science or
General Body Meeting by conferring a certificate and a plaque. 3.5. Patron
Members Institutions/Organizations engaged ion research,
development, manufacturing or making of agricultural and related products and
Banks may be requested, by the Executive Council, to become Patron Members of
the Society. Patron Members are entitled to all privileges as Members. Each
Patron Member/ organization will nominate a representative to the Society. 3.6. Student Members
Post–graduate students registered in Soil Science/Agri. Chemistry/Agronomy
Department of Agricultural Universities/Colleges shall be eligible for Student
Membership of the Society. Students seeking membership shall get their
eligibility verified by Chairman of the concerned Department. Article 4: Subscription
4.1. A Member shall pay admission fee and annual
subscription at the time of applying for membership. Subsequent annual
subscriptions shall be paid within first quarter of each calendar year. Any
Member not paying in first quarter shall pay annual fee alongwith a late fee
determined by the Executive Council.
4.2. Patron Membership Fee shall be payable only once.
4.3. Student Members’
admission fee and annual subscription shall be 50% of the prevalent rates for
Members.
4.4. Any Member can become Life Member of the Society by
paying ten (10) annual subscriptions in lump-sum, provided he/she has been
Member of the Society at least for a period of five (5) years, continuously.
4.5. Any Member who does not pay annual subscription within
the due time shall lose all rights and privileges till such time that he/she
pays all arrears due to him/her.
4.6. Executive Council will determine fee structure of all
Membership categories. Article 5:
Privileges of Members 5.1. A Member of the Society shall be entitled to:
(i)
Vote at all General Body and extraordinary meetings;
(ii)
Become member of the Executive Council, provided he/she
is an uninterrupted Member in good
standing for the last five (5) years, except for Student Councilor;
(iii)
Propose/second resolutions;
(iv)
Present papers at Congress of Soil Science;
(v)
Receive publications of the Society, free of cost, and
Publish in the Society journal.
5.2. Student Members shall enjoy all the privileges of
Members but shall have no right to vote, except for the election of Student
Councilor. Article 6: Executive Council 6.1. Affairs
of the Society shall be managed by an Executive Council, consisting of the
following officers and Councilors to be elected from amongst the Members:
6.1.1. President: He shall preside over all meetings of the Society and
the Executive Council and shall regulate the proceedings therein. He shall, in
case of equality of votes, have a double or a casting vote.
6.1.2. Vice-Presidents:
One from each
6.1.3. General Secretary:
He/she shall be exercise general supervision on the interest of the Society and
shall be responsible to the President and the Executive Council for proper
conduct of affairs of the Society. He/she shall record and present minutes of
all meetings and shall maintain an up to date list of Members with their latest
addresses.
6.1.4.
Joint
Secretary: He shall assist the
General Secretary in conduct of affairs of the Society and shall act as General
Secretary in his absence.
6.1.5.
Treasurer: He/she shall be responsible for receiving subscription
and other dues, payable to the Society, and for the disbursement of all money
payable by the Society. He shall submit financial and audit reports to the
General Body at the annual meetings. He will submit the reports on the accounts
of Society to the Executive Council as and when required by the Council.
6.1.6.
Councilors: In addition to the office bearers, there will be EIGHT
(8) Councilors, at least one from each province, one from AJK and one from
Student Members.
6.1.7.
Immediate
Past–President and Editor-in-Chief of PJSS shall be ex-officio members of Executive Council. 6.2. Quorum: quorum for the meeting of the
Executive Council shall be six (6). Article 7: Meetings
7.1. The General Body, consisting of Members of the Society,
shall hold meetings of the following categories: 7.1.1.
Annual General Body Meetings.
7.1.2. Extraordinary General Body Meetings. 7.2. Annual General Body Meeting shall be called the
General Secretary once a year. It shall transact the following business: 7.2.1.
Presentation of General Secretary’s annual report and its adoption. 7.2.2.
Treasurer’s report including statements of audited accounts of receipts and
expenditure of the current year and budget proposals for the coming year. 7.2.3.
Any other matter(s) relevant to affairs of the Society. 7.3. Extra-ordinary General Body Meeting can be called
by the President in order to transact any special business, provided:
7.3.1.
He/she deems necessary in the interest of affairs of
the Society.
7.3.1.
On written request of thirty (30) or one–fifth of the
total Members, which ever is more. It will be obligatory on the President to
call such a meeting within one month of receipt of the request.
7.4.
In case the required
Extraordinary General Body Meeting is not convened by President, it will be
assumed that President has lost confidence of the Members and his/her office
will be considered vacant.
7.5.Conduct of Meetings 7.5.1.
Annual General Body Meeting shall be convened on one month written notice to all
the Members, giving agenda, date, time and place of the meeting. 7.5.2. One–fifth of total Members shall
constitute the quorum. 7.5.3.
Extraordinary General Body Meeting shall be convened on written notice of 15
days, giving date, time and place.
7.5.4.
No other business except
that given in the agenda will be transacted at an Extraordinary General Body
Meeting.
7.5.5. Quorum for the
Extra Ordinary General Body Meeting will be the same as for Annual General Body
Meeting. 7.5.6.
In case of lack of quorum, after half an hour of the scheduled time, the Annual
General Body Meeting shall stand adjourned to meet again at any other date, time
and place which will be notified to all Members. No quorum will be necessary for
the reconvened Meeting.
7.5.7. In case of Extraordinary General Body Meeting, it shall
stand dissolved in the absence of the requisite quorum.
7.5.8.
In exceptional cases, to
economize expenses and to save time, opinion of Members as General Body will be
sought through mail. The quorum in this situation will be one-fourth of the
total Members. However, this clause will not be applicable to matters related to
By-laws amendments. Article 8: Funds
8.1.
Financial accounts of the
Society shall be subject to examination by an Auditor appointed by the Executive
Council.
8.2.
All money received shall
be regularly deposited into a recognized Bank by the Treasurer. Expenditure
incurred in conduct of business the Society shall be got approved from the
Executive Council. In anticipation of approval of the Executive Council, the
President may sanction expenditure.
8.3.
Money will be drawn from
the Bank under the signatures of Treasurer and Secretary/ President.
8.4.
Executive Council shall
be empowered to raise and receive donations and bequests. Article 9: Holding of Elections
9.1.
Tenure of the office
bearers and members of the Executive Council shall be two years, beginning from
Ist January and ending on 31st December of the following year, except for
Student Councilor, whose term will be one year. If due to some reasons, such as
vote of no confidence, elections have to be held before the expiry of term of
office bearer(s)/members(s) of the Council, the newly elected Executive Council
will continue for the period of tenure left by the dissolved Executive Council
as well as the next full tenure of two years.
9.2.
Election process shall be
initiated at least four (4) months before the expiry of each tenure. After
election, all office bearers and members of the Council shall be deemed to have
ceased holding office on 31st December of their second year. The new elected
office bearers shall assume office on the following day, i.e., 1st of January.
9.3.
An Election Committee
will be constituted by the Executive Council latest by 31 August of 2nd year of
each tenure. It will comprise of at least three Members from amongst Members of
the Society. The Election Committee will be an independent body, not answerable
to Executive Council. In case of violation of any Society Bylaw or election
rule, Election Committee will be accountable to the General Body. The election
shall be completed within 45 days and results announced one month before expiry
of the tenure of Executive Council.
9.4.
All proposals for
nomination to contest for an office/member of the Council shall be initiated by
a Member and duly seconded another Member, in writing.
9.5.
Only a Member with at
least five (5) years’ uninterrupted Membership is eligible to be candidate for
any office in the Executive Council, except for Student Councilor.
9.6.
Student Councilor will be
proposed and elected by Student Members only.
9.7.
Election will be held
through secret ballot. Ballots will be mailed to each voter by registered mail
by the Election Committee.
9.8.
A candidate shall be
declared to have been elected by a simple majority vote.
9.9.
Any vacancy which may
remain unfilled during election or may occur subsequently in the Council shall
be filled by the Executive Council. But Members having lost in the Election can
not be nominated.
9.10.
A person shall not be
eligible to contest or be elected for the same office for more than two
consecutive terms.
9.11.
No Member against whom
any dues or assets of the Society are outstanding shall qualify to become a
candidate for any office of the Society.
9.12.
Any Member who may harm
interest of the Society in any form by his deliberate actions and activities
will not qualify to become candidate for any office in the Society, provided
his/her harmful action had been notified by the Executive Council before the
announcement of election schedule. In serious cases membership of such a person
will be suspended by the Executive Council for a specific period of time to
allow him/her to improve his/her behavior. In extremely serious cases, the
membership may be cancelled for ever by the two-third majority of General Body.
Reasons of imposition of the penalty shall be recorded in writing. To avoid
unnecessary work and expenditure, no Member will be allowed to contest for more
than one office of the Society at the same time. In case of more than one
nomination of a Member and no withdrawal from multiple nominations upto the
specified date, the Election Committee will have discretionary power to allow
the candidate to contest for any one specific office. Article 10: Vote of No Confidence
10.1.
To include proposal of vote of no confidence, against
on office bearer of Executive Council, on the agenda of Annual General Body
Meeting/Extraordinary General Body Meeting, the proposal shall have to be
supported by one–fifth of the total Members.
10.2.
Vote of no confidence can be passed against any
members(s) of the Executive Council by two–third majority in the General Body
Meeting.
10.3.
In case the vote of no confidence is passed against
office bearer of the Executive Council, the General Body will make adhoc
arrangements to run affairs of the Society. Article 11: Attendance of Meetings If any member of the Executive Council/ Editorial Board
or any Committee constituted by Executive Council or General Body does not
attend three consecutive meetings of the respective body deliberately, he/she
will lose his/her membership of the said body. The respective body will be
empowered to fill that vacancy from amongst Members of the Society. Article 12: Amendments in By-Laws
12.1.
Any change in the By-laws may be made by a two–third
majority vote in a meeting of General Body.
12.2.
General Body will be the supreme body and will have
powers to make decisions with two–third majority regarding any unforeseen
matters that may not have been covered in these By–laws. Article 13: Publications of the Society The regular technical publication of the Society will
be known as “Pakistan Journal of Soil
Science”. Special publications of the Society, duly approved by the
Executive Council, may be published as and when required. Expenditure incurred
on production of the Journal and other publications shall be approved by the
Executive Council. The Executive Council may nominate any Member(s) for any
other publication of the Society. Article 14: Editorial Board
14.1.
Editorial Board of the
Journal will comprise of an Editor-in-Chief and Twelve (12) Editors, two of whom
will be from abroad. All will be nominated by Executive Council. Members of
Executive Council can not become Editorial Board Members. The Editors, except
for Foreign Editors, must be Members of the Society.
14.2.
In the interest of
continuity of the Editorial Board, the tenures of Editorial Board Members will
be arranged in such a way that after completing their 3-year terms, one-third
Members of the Editorial Board will retire each year.
14.3.
In case of any difficulty
with regard to any member of the Board, the Executive Council may nominate new
member(s) any time during the term, for rest of the period of the respective
term.
14.4.
Executive Council may
decide to increase the number of Editors.
14.5.
Invited papers at the
Biennial Congresses of Soil Science as well as at General Body Meetings and
other special occasions will be published in Pakistan Journal of Soil Science,
after peer review. December issue of the Journal each year will publish names,
with institutions, of: (i) Reviewers (in addition to Consulting Editors) during
the year; (ii) Honorary Members; (iii) Fellows; and (iv) Any other Society award
recipients. Article 15: Website The Society will have a website, depicting Executive
Council, list of Members, Pakistan Journal of Soil Science, National Directory
of Soil Scientists, Soil Science News, and Society By-laws, etc. Article 16: Honors and Awards In the interest of promoting the profession of Soil
Science, the Society will recognize its outstanding Members by conferring the
following honors and awards: 16.1.
Honorary Membership of SSSP: As
stated at Article 3.4. 16.2. Fellowship of SSSP: The Society shall have Fellows from amongst its Members
and Life Members in recognition of their outstanding professional contributions
and service to the Society. Total number of Fellows shall not, at any time,
exceed twenty five (25) and the number of persons bestowed with Fellowship each
year shall not exceed two (2). 16.2.1.
Executive Council, through a constituted Committee, will identify prospective
candidates for Fellowship. To be eligible for nomination to Fellowship, an
individual must have been a Member, not in arrears of subscription, for at least
ten (10) consecutive years. Executive Council will approve Fellowships. 16.2.2. The Fellows shall be installed at the General
Body Meeting or biennial Congress of Soil Science, and presented with a
certificate and a plaque. Fellows of the Society may use the abbreviation
‘FSSSP’ as a suffix to their names. 16.3. Any
other award, approved by the Executive Council.  |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||