Our Constitution

Community Development & Empowerment Foundation

Our Constitution

1. Name, Nature & Extent:

a. The name of the Foundation shall be:

‘Community Development & Empowerment Foundation’

(Hereinafter referred to as ‘the Foundation’);

b. The Foundation shall be a non-commercial, non-political and non-partisan body;

c. The Foundation shall not associate, work or affiliate with any of the political or religious party, group or society;

d. The Foundation may carry on its activities within the State of Jammu and Kashmir;

e. The principal office of the Foundation shall be at Srinagar, Kashmir with its branch(s) at such other places as may be decided from time to time.

2. Application of the Constitution & its implementation

a. This Constitution shall be deemed to have come into force from the date the Trustees approve it;

b. This Constitution shall be binding on the Trustees. Trustees shall not individually or collectively do any act or take any decision which shall be contrary to the Constitution or any provision thereof. In such a situation it shall be deemed that such a Trustee has forfeited all his rights as a Trustee;

c. All Life members, Basic members, Honorary members, workers, sympathizers and persons associated with the

Foundation shall be bound by the Constitution and shall not do any act which is contrary to or in violation to the Constitution;

d. Advisory Council and the Board of Trustees shall have the power to get the Constitution implemented;

e. If any act of a person regarding violation of this Constitution comes into question, Advisory Council shall take a final decision thereon and only the Council shall have the power to take an appropriate action;

f. After the Constitution gets approval, this Constitution shall be the Constitution for the Foundation and right to amend, change it and make deletion in it shall vest in the Trustees only;

3. Aims & Objects

Basic objects of the Foundation are:

a. To serve the humanity irrespective of caste, creed and religion;

b. Progress and unity in the community;

c. To help and support the deserving persons;

d. To strive for unity and prosperity in the community’

4. Sphere of activity of the Foundation shall be social service, welfare for the orphans, employment programmes, disaster management, health, education and all such programmes which are indicated in the Trust Deed executed on………………..and registered on…………………….

Preference will be given to the following services:

i. To help people living below poverty line to come out of such a situation and find out ways for the same;

ii. To help youth to strive for a respectful livelihood;

iii. To persuade youth to specialize in technical jobs, art and craft and in such other areas and help them to strive for the same;

iv. To educate the youth in persuading latest knowledge in the present technology era and help them to attain higher educational standards;

v. To strive for the abolition of un Islamic customs and arrange moral lectures for the same and draw the attention of the youth of their duty towards issues relating to community issues and frame a concept of a respective society;

vi. To provide assistance to the deserving people and people effected by natural calamity and other disasters;

vii. To strive for making the rites relating to marriage simple and in accordance with the Islamic principles;

viii. To strive for unity of the community;

ix. To strive for enlightenment of thought;

x. To arrange programmes for the welfare of the Women and strive for the empowerment of women in various fields;

xi. To prove assistance to the poor children and orphans and arrange for their maintenance and education;

xii. To provide every possible help to the disabled;

xiii. To arrange for expenditure on the marriage of needy girls;

xiv. To provide every assistance on the medical treatment of the ailing and deserving people;

xv. To establish craft centers where deserving, orphan and poor boys and girls can get technical training and moral education.

5. Membership for the Foundation shall be of the following types:

a. Hamdard Foundation(well-wisher),

b. Rukoon Foundation,

c. Representative Member,

d. Life Member,

e. Honourary Member

Terms for obtaining a membership, period of membership and other conditions shall be prescribed by the rules to be framed by the Advisory Council. Such rules shall be published and right to make changes in the same from time to time shall vest only in the Advisory Council.

6. Hamdard Foundation

a. Any person, having the will to serve humanity, can be a well whisher of the Foundation;

b. For a Hamdard Foundation it shall not be required that he/she becomes a formal member or rukoon of the Foundation;

c. If any Hamdard desires to make contributions for the promotion of the programmes of the Foundation, any amount for the purpose will be accepted with profound thanks. If such a persons desires to transfer any kind of immovable property to the Foundation the same will be accepted within the frame work of the existing law on the subject;

d. A Hamdard Foundation may offer to help the welfare programmes of the Foundation.

7. Rukoon Foundation

a. Any household of an area can, through its head or any person nominated by such a head become Rukoon of the Foundation;

b. All the members of the Rukoon household shall be bound by the Constitution;

c. Head of the family shall as subscription for its membership and to keep it subsisting, pay a subscription fee which shall in no case be less than Rs. 1/- per head of the family. Such an amount shall be paid through SIM. Any person may pay more than Rs. 1/- as membership fee;

d. Rukoon household shall help the Foundation in its programmes and can also become beneficiary of the same.

8. Representative Member

a. Rukoon household of an area shall elect their representative;

b. Every 20 Rukoon household shall in consultation with each other or through ballot elect one representative who shall be deemed as their representative member;

c. Representative Member shall be entered as Representative Member in the Foundation Register. Such a member shall have to pay such membership fee for registration and to keep membership subsisting, as may be prescribed by the rules;

d. Representative Member shall be bound by the Constitution and shall strive for fulfilling the aims and objects of the Foundation;

e. Duties of a Represntative Member include that he/she shall remain aware of the state of affairs of the household represented by him/her and shall inform the central office whenever required so that necessary assistance can be provided to the deserving persons.

9. Life Member

a. Any person may express his/her desire to become Life Member of the Foundation;

b. It shall be within the competence of the Executive Council to accept the request of such the person for the purpose;

c. Once his/her request for such a membership is allowed, such a person shall pay Rs. 1000/- per annum as membership fees. On payment of such a fees name of such a person shall be entered in the Life Membership Register and a Life Membership certificate shall be issued in favour of such a member. Such a person can renew his membership annually on payment of the said amount annually;

d. Besides life membership fee, a Life Member may offer donations from time to time to execute the programmes of the Foundation;

e. A Life Member shall be bound by the Constitution;

f. No life membership shall indulge in immoral and illegal occupation or an occupation which is in contravention of shariat;

g. A life member shall be provided with the information regarding the programmes of the Foundation.

10. Honourary Member

a. Advisory Council may in consultation with the Board of Trustees for special reasons confer on any person Honourary membership of the Foundation;

b. A Honourary member shall be bound by the Constitution;

c. A Honourary member may be entrusted with any such responsibility or assignment which the Executive Council may think proper and suitable for such a member.

11. Resources

a. Members and associates of the Foundation shall be responsible for arranging the resources to achieve the aims and objects of the Foundation;

b. Following means shall be adopted to collect money:

i. Membership amount – Its details shall be provided in the rules to be framed by the Advisory Council regarding membership;

ii. General donations;

iii. Special donations (for any particular work or project);

iv. Sharie amount (after a proper permission);

In addition to it any valid method to collect money at the time of need can be fixed or approved.

12. Organisational set up

Organisational set up of the Foundation shall be as under:

a. General Council;

b. Board of Trustees;

c. Advisory Council

d. Ulama Council;

e. Executive Council;

f. District Committee;

g. Basic Unit.

13. General Council

a. General Council shall be an important organ of the Foundation;

b. General Council shall have 200 members and their election shall be done on the principle of District representation. Each District shall have the representation as under:

Name of the District No. of members

Srinagar 50

Budgam 60

Ganderbal 10

Bandipore 30

Baramulla & Kupwara 45

Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian & Kulgam distrcis. All these 5 areas shall constitute a single district for the purpose of this constitution.

Total 200

c. Nomination for the members shall be done by the Board of Trustees and Advisory Council jointly from the life members and representative members;

d. Tenure of the Members shall be three years from the date of nomination. After the expiry of this period the same member or any other member in his place, can be nominated as a member;

e. A meeting of the council shall be called at least once a year. Its arrangements and venue shall be fixed by the Executive Council. Its quorum shall be more than 25%.

f. Executive Council shall keep the Council informed about all the programmes of the Foundation and shall from time to time take the advice of the Council for the execution of such programmes;

g. Executive Council may, in consultation with the Advisory Council refer any important issue to the Council for its advice and may for this purpose call a special meeting of the Council.

14. Board of Trustees

a. Board of Trustees shall comprise of such Trustees who have vide Trust Deed executed on ……………and registered on… laid basis of the Foundation;

b. On the enforcement of the Constitution the Trustees shall pay, if not already paid an amount of Rs. 25000/- as Trusteeship fee in a single installment or five equal installments within one year;

c. Board of Trustees may increase the strength of the Board by including any other person as Trustees after due consultation. Such a Trustee shall have the same rights as are vested in the Trustees.

15. Advisory Council

a. Advisory Council shall be a highly powered organ of Foundation. Its basic job shall be to frame policy for the execution of the aims and objects of the Trust and ensure implementation of such policy;

b. Council shall comprise of 5 members to be nominated by the Board of Trustees. In the first instance the Council shall have the tenure of five years thereafter members of the Council shall be nominated after every three years;

c. Only such pious persons shall be nominated to the Council who are experienced and who have got the ability to perform the duties assigned to the Council.

d. Chairman for the Council shall be selected by the Board of Trustees and the members of the Advisory Council after the Council is constituted;

e. The Council shall have all such powers as are required to fulfill the aims and objects of the Foundation and in this respect there shall be due co-operation between the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Council;

f. Executive Council shall provide every facility and help to the Council to run its business;

g. Council may prescribe its own procedure to run its business;

h. The decisions taken by the Advisory Council shall be binding on all from a Hamdard to the members of the Board of Trustees.

16. Ulama Council

a. Ulama Council shall comprise of five members. Such a person may be member of the Foundation of any category. In case a nominated member is not a formal member of the Foundation, such a person can be conferred with Honorary membership during the period he remains on the panel of the Council;

b. Ulama Council shall comprise of the well known ulama and fuqa of the valley to be nominated by the Advisory Council and Board of Trustees jointly. Members of the Council shall elect a Chairman amongst themselves;

c. Ulama Council shall examine the programmes and working of the Foundation from religious point of view and may identified any such issue which may not be in accordance with Shari’a;

d. Advisory Council or the Executive Council may whenever required refer any issue to the Ulama Council for its opinion;

e. Any amount received by the Foundation from various sources shall be utilized in accordance with the manner as indicated by the Council. All the sub units of the Foundation shall be bound to utilize the money in accordance with religious procedure as indicated by the Council.

17. Executive Council

a. There shall be an Executive (or Working) Council for the Foundation;

b. It shall be the duty of the Council to run the administrative work of the Foundation, act on all the issues and implement the policies of the Foundation and the guidelines laid down by the Advisory Council;

c. Executive Council shall be an important organ of the Foundation which shall work under the directions of the Advisory Council and shall perform its functions within the limits prescribed by the Advisory Council;

d. Executive Council shall comprise of 12 members/office bearers out of which present 7 Trustees shall be its permanent members. Rest of the 5 members shall be co-opted by the said Trustees;

e. The Executive Council shall have the following Office Bearers:

i. Chairman;

ii. Vice Chairman;

iii. General Secretary;

iv. Secretary;

v. Organiser;

vi. Finance Secretary;

vii. Secretary Publicity and Information

f. If the Advisory Council feels it necessary, it may increase the number of the Office Bearers/members of the Executive Council;

18. a. Following sub units shall work under the Executive Council:

i. Assistance to the Orphan Unit;

ii. Employment Unit

iii. Disaster Management Unit;

iv. Education Unit;

v. Health Care Unit;

vi. Help on co-operative basis;

vii. Womens Unit;

viii. Unit for other Social Services.

b. Sub Units shall have a tenure of three years. Its formation shall be made by the Advisory Council;

c. Appointment of Office Bearers for the sub units shall be made by the Advisory Council and their nature of work shall be laid down in the rules by the Advisory Council in consultation with the Executive Council;

d. Advisory Council may remove any Office Bearer any time permanently or temporarily for any just and proper ground and may appoint any other life member in his place.

e. Term of the Executive Council shall be for three years;

f. Advisory Council shall through rules lay down the procedure for the working of the Executive Council and such council shall be bound by such procedure.

19. District Committee

a. There shall be a District Committee in each District which shall be known as ‘District Committee for the District… ’.

Executive Council shall identify such districts where such a committee is to be established;

b. District Committee shall comprise of five members as under:

i. District President

ii. Secretary

iii. Organiser

iv. Member

v. Member

c. On the enforcement of the Constitution first district committee in a district shall be nominated by the Executive Council. After such a committee completes its term, next committee shall be elected through such an election process which is prescribed in the rules;

d. Nature of the work and functions of the District Committee shall be prescribed by the Advisory Committee through the rules;

e. Basic units of a district shall work under the directions of the District Committee;

f. Term of the District Committee shall be three years;

g. District Committee shall take its decisions by majority. When the District Committee takes a decision in respect of an issue where it concerns with any basic committee of the area, the District Committee shall while considering such an issue take into considerations the President of the Basic Unit concerned.

20. Basic Committeess/Units

a. Ther shall be a basic committee/unit;

b. A basic committee shall comprise of 100 households. It shall have two helpers and a president. The unit shall have a close link with the heads of these households.

c. Members of the basic committee shall be the life members of the Foundation;

d. Work and functions of the Basic Committee shall be prescribed by the Advisory Council through the rules.

21. Rules & Regulations

The Advisory Council shall have the power to frame rules, regulation and procedure for smooth working of the Council, Executive Committee and any other body under the Foundation.

22. Amendments to this Constitution

a. Amendment, change and deletion in the Constitution shall be discussed only in a special session of the Trustees and decision on the same can be taken only in such a meeting. Such a meeting can be convened for the purpose by the Advisory Council in consultation with the Trustees;

b. Any such amendment, change and deletion shall be enforceable only on the decision taken by 2/3 members present.

23. Finance

(a) The Foundation shall have the power to raise money by means of membership fees and contributions from other sources. The funds, income (including interest on funds) and property of the Foundation shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the objects and aims of the Foundation as set out in the Constitution and no portion thereof shall be transferred by way of profit to any member of the Foundation. However, any person or a member can be given any due amount by way of remuneration or pay.

(d) The Foundation shall keep its funds at the Jammu & Kashmir Bank or any other scheduled bank to be nominated by the Advisory Council and the Advisory Council may appoint two authorised members to sign jointly cheques and other documents on behalf of the Foundation.

24. Resignation

a. Any Office Bearer or member has the right to resign from the Foundation at any time, taking effect from notice being given to the Secretary.

b. Any member who fails to pay due membership subscription with the period as may be fixed by the Constitution or the rules can be deemed to have resigned from the Foundation.

25. Dissolution

a. General Council, Advisory Council, Ulama Council and Executive Council may at any time advice the Board of Trustees to dissolve the Foundation. Such a, advice can be given only by ¾ of the members present;

b. On receiving such an advice the Board of Trustees may take a final decision on the same. It can also decided that in the event of dissolution where and to whom shall the money and property of the Foundation be transferred.