Recognition of Ex-Servicemen's Association - DESW Orders
No. 28(86)2017/D (Res-I)
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare
Sena Bhawan, New Delhi
Dated the 6th March, 2018.
To
Directorate General Resettlement
West Block IV, Wing 5,
R.K.Puram, New Delhi-110066.
Subject:
Recognition of Ex-Servicemen's Association
Sir,
I am directed to refer to this Ministry’s letter No.
9(37)92/US(WE)/D(Res) dated 31.1.1996, on the subject mentioned above
and to revise the guidelines for formation and conduct of Ex-Servicemen
Associations and their recognition. The Associations will be accorded
recognition subject to their fulfillment of revised conditions as
under:-
(a) The Associations should be registered under the
Societies Registration Act, 1860. The state chapters of the said
Ex-Servicemen Association too should be registered under the Societies
Registration Act, 1860. The Association should have been formed with
aims and objectives of promoting the common interest of Ex-Servicemen
and should have well defined bye-laws and rules approved by the
Registrar of the Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860
(b)
The Associations should have a minimum membership of One Lakh. This
membership, however, in case of associations exclusively of Naval
Ex-Servicemen or exclusively of Air Force Ex-Servicemen should not have
less than ten thousand members. War widows Associations and Disabled War
Veterans Associations will be exempted from the criteria of minimum
membership.
(c) The Associations formed shall be with the sole
intent of projection of grievances / recommendations / problems of
Ex-Servicemen and for their amelioration to the Government through its
Offices. The Ex-Servicemen Associations will not imply any right to
negotiate to the problems/grievances of the Ex-Servicemen.
(d) The
Associations in no case should be formed on religious, social,
linguistic, area and caste lines. They should be apolitical in nature
with no affiliation or contiguity to any Political party or political
Association. The Ex-Servicemen Associations shall not espouse any
political or religious thoughts to its members or the society, nor
should it be in possession of or maintaining any fund amassed through
political or religious leaders.
(e) The membership should be
comprised exclusively of ESM and they should not be involved in any type
of criminal activity/proceedings in any Court of Law.
(f) No other source of fund is allowed to be collected by the Association except subscriptions.
(g)
The Associations should not be associated with any Foreign Government
or Company / conglomerate and any foreign Governments. Under no
circumstances should the association accept any donations/pecuniary
benefits from any foreign concern/entity.
(h) The Association
shall in not way enter into any communication with any foreign entity.
All such correspondences are to be exclusively channelized through the
Government and the Government shall have the prerogative to withhold it,
if it so deems necessary.
(i) The Acts, charter and conduct of
the Ex-Servicemen Associations should not be for anti-Government
activities or for acts prejudicial to national interest and security.
(j)
The Association shall submit an undertaking affirming its faith in
democratic principles and binding itself to resort only to the lawful
activities for representing the Ex-Servicemen’s problems.
(k) The Association shall not raise issues in the interest of any caste, tribe or religious denomination.
(l)
The Association shall not maintain any political fund or lend itself to
the propagation of the view of any political party or a member of such
party.
(m) The Association shall be composed of Ex-Servicemen, widows and their next of kin only.
(n)
The Association should have a Pan India presence i.e., the
Ex-Servicemen Association should be of all India Character and should
have adequate number of branches at State and District level. Its Office
bearers should be composed of a mix of personnel of all three servies
and ranks. The Composite Associations representing Ex-Servicemen of the
three services should have a balance of tri service representation and
also balanced representation of all ranks i.e. Officers, JCOs and OR and
equivalent rank of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Associations shall
submit duly verified list of its members and Office bearers once every
year to Directorate General of Resettlement (DGR) after their Annual
General Meeting.
(o) The Association shall have duly elected body of office bearers from amongst its members only, valid for a specified period.
(p)
The Association shall have a Constitution/bye laws and its functioning
should be strictly in accordance with the said charter of its adopted
Constitution/bye laws.
(q) Any amendment in the constitution/bye
laws of the Association, after its recognition under these rules, shall
be made only with the prior approval of the Government, if the
recognition is to be continued thereafter.
(r) The Association
shall endeavour to hold at least one Annual Body Meeting every year, and
the dates and schedule of which should be duly notified in advance to
its members and its Office bearers with the proposed agenda points.
(s)
The Association shall maintain only one bank account for its
operations. The persons authorized to operate these bank accounts shall
be selected in its annual general body meetings. Changes, if any, at any
later date(s) shall be with consensus and by a majority selection.
(t)
The Association shall have its accounts checked every year by a
registered Chartered Accountant and copy of the audited accounts, as
well as its annual report should be made available to DGR within thirty
days of such check for information and scrutiny.
(u) The
Association shall inform the Government of all accounts operated by it
on all social media platform and only the authorized Office bearers of
the association are permitted to post messages on such sites. No
offensive posts are to be posted. The Office bearers are to familiarize
themselves with Indian IT Act prior to operating any such account.
(v)
The Association shall not publish any periodicals, journal, magazines,
bulletins etc. without the prior consent of the Government. In no case
writings of defamatory nature, vilifying any individuals, group of
individuals, private sources and Government shall be permitted to be
printed in such publishings. The publishings shall in no way disrupt any
ties of the Government with any State Government/foreign
concern/Government or any Government authority. The publishing shall
also not be inimical to the Government or to the Society. The copies of
all such periodicals, bulletins and magazines, journals (as the case may
be) shall be supplied by the Association to the Department of ESW, DGR
and KSB.
(w) The communication addressed by the Association or any
office bearers on its behalf to the Government or Government authority
shall not contain any disrespectful or improper language.
(x) In
any communications addressed to the Government or in any panel on any
national/regional television channels, it shall be ensured that the
choice of language used is respectful and not defamatory of the
Government or its agencies and such appearances should not be a tool to
ignite passions for any particular agenda.
(y) The Association shall not indulge in any Commercial activity with the objective of generating any income/profits.
2.
The Associations, including the existing ones, desirous of being
considered for recognition may apply to the office of the DGR, West
Block IV, Wing-5, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066 with documentary proofs
in support of and fulfillment of the conditions of recognition as
mentioned above along with Memorandum of Understanding, Constitution,
Bye Laws, Names and address of Office bearers, membership, certificate
of registration by the Registrar of Societies. Any false representations
and/or any false documents/evidences submitted shall make the concerned
association liable for permanent rejection and penal action.
3. Verification of the membership of the Association as Ex-Servicemen Association shall be carried out through the DGR.
4.
The recognition will not entitle any Association or any person
concerned with it to any financial or other assistance from the
Government.
5. The recognition to the Association shall be subject
to its adherence of its Constitution, Bye Laws and observance and
fullfillment of the conditions and criteria as laid down in the
guidelines.They are to be followed in letter and spirit and the said
membership can be revoked by the Government if any of the associations
fail to comply with the guidelines.
6. Only the authorized persons
as detailed by the Ex-Servicemen Associations shall be permitted to
deal with the Government and/or submit application/letters. The
associations shall, however, see that causes of individual nature of
Ex-Servicemen are not espoused/supported.
7. The Government may
dispense with or relax the requirements of any of these rules to such
extent and subject to such conditions as it may deem fit in regard to
any Association.
Yours faithfully,
(Manmohan Pipil)
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India
