ELECTION AND OTHER DISPUTES
40. In case of an election dispute, an Election Tribunal shall be constituted as under:
(A) Election Disputes at IMA (HQ) Level:
(i) For election disputes at the Indian Medical Association level, the tribunal shall comprise of the National President of the IMA and two Immediate Past National Presidents of the IMA; if any of the Past NationalPresident is unable to act or refuses to act or even otherwise interested or party to the dispute, his place shall be taken by the next available Past National President. If the National President himself is involved or party to the dispute, he will not act as member of the tribunal, and in his place another Past National President shall act as member of the tribunal. All proceedings of the Tribunal shall be held at Delhi unless the Tribunal otherwise decides. The decision of the Tribunal shall be final.
(ii) Records of the election, shall be maintained for one year.
(iii) No election shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to the National President within 15 days of decleration of election result
(iv) The National President shall refer the petition within 7 days to the Election Tribunal as provided in the rules. The Election tribunal shal meet within three weeks of such a reference. The Tribunlal shall give opportunity both to the petitioners and defendants concerned to be present at the hearing. No-non member shall have the right to represent any party at these hearings.
(v) The election Tribunal shall hold its hearings at the IMA Headquarters or at a
convenient place determined by the National President, lMA.
(vi)The election disputes, if any, will fall under the jurisdiction of the court in place of action.
(vii) Administrative assistance shall be provided by the lMA Headquarters.
(viii) The Honorary Secretary, IMA will act as the Secretary of the Tribunal.
(B) Election disputes at State/Territorial Branch and Local Branch Level:
(i) In cse of election disputes in the State/Territorial or Local Branches, an Election Tribunal shall be constituted. For disputes at the State/Territorial levels, the Tribunal shall comprise of the National President of the IMA and twoimmediate Past National Presidents of the IMA. For disputes at the Local Branch level, the State/Territorial Branch President and two immediate Past Presidents of the State/Territorial Branch under whose jurisdiction the Local Branch falls, shall form the Tribunal.
(ii) In case the President or a member of the tribunal is himself involved in any way in such a dispute, or is unable to act or refuses to act, or even otherwise interested, he will not be a member of the Tribunal and his place shall be taken by another Past President. When there is a difference of opinion amongst the members of the tribunal, the opinion of the National President, IMA or Chairman of the Tribunal for election disputes at the State/Territorial level and that of the State/Territorial President or Chairman of the Tribunal for election disputes at the Local Branch level, shall be final.
(iii) If any of disputing parties is not satisfied with the Tribunal at State/Territorial level, it may appeal to the National President of the Association, who if he feels that a prima facie case for appeal exists, will refer it to a Tribunal as provided in Rule 40(A).The decision of the Tribunal shall be finaland binding on all concerned.
(iv) Records of the election shall be maintained till one year after declaration of the result.
(v) No election shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to the National President, IMA, in case of an election dispute at the State/Territorial Branch level, or to the President of the State/Territorial Branch concerned in case of dispute at the Local Branch level, within 15 days of the declaration of the election results.
(vi) No election petition shall be entertained unless accompanied by an application fee of Rs 300 (non-refundable) by Cash/Demand Draft.
(vii) National President IMA/President State/Territorial Branch as the case may be, shall refer the petition within 7 days to the Election Tribunal as provided in the rule.s The Election Tribunal shall meet wtihin 3 weeks of such a reference. The Tribunal shall give opportunity both to the petitioners and defendants concerned to be present at the hearing. No non-member shall have the right to represent any party at these hearings.
(viii) In case of an election dispute at the State/Territorial Branch level, the Election Tribunal shall hold its hearings at IMA Headquarters or at a convenient place determined by National President IMA or Chairman of the Tribunal. In caseof election dispute at the Local Branch level, the Election Tribunal shall hold its hearings at the Headquarters of the State/Territorial Branch or Chairman of the Tribunal.
(ix) The election dispute, if any will fall under the jursidction of the court in place of action.
(x) Administrative assistance to the election Tribunal in respect of election dispute at the state/Territorial Branch level, shall be provided by IMA Headquarters,while administrative assistance to the election Tribunal in the case of election dispute of the Local Branch level shall be provided by Headquarters of the State/Territorial Branch.
(xi) The Hony. General Secretary IMA shall act as Secretary of the Tribunal in the case of election dispute relating to the State/Territorial branch, while Hony. Secretary, State/Territorial branch concerned willact as Secretary of the Tribunal in case of Election Tribunal relating to Local Branch.
(c) Legal proceeding, if any, where the Headquarters of the Association is a party, will fall under the jursidction of the court at Delhi, while in other cases, the jurisdiction of the court shallbe at place of action.
(d) The parties Concerned in an election dispute shall bear equally the travel and other expenses of the members of the Election Tribunal.
41. Any disputes or differences, solution for which is not otherwise provided between (i) a member of IMA State/Territorial/Local Branch and (ii) the Indian Medical Association shall be decided by the Working Committee of Indian Medical Association. Any party raising such disputes shall give at least six weeks notice of the same to the Headquarters of IMA and the same shall be placed on the agenda of the following meeting of the Working Committee. The Working Committee may regulate its own procedure for the purpose.
Notices:
42. All notices required to be sent under the Rules or Bye-laws regarding election dispute and/or Arbitration shall be deemed to have been sufficiently given by addressing at the last available address in the records of the Association and sending it by registered post acknowledgement due. The service shall be complete whether the registered cover is received back with the endorsement ''refused'' not found, left without address or with any other endorsement. It shall be the duty of the party to furnish the address in writing if notice is desired to be sent at an address different from that with the Association.