AUDFA

UNIVERSITY FACULTY ASSOCIATION

The University Faculty Association shall be a forum for collective deliberation and action of the faculty of the University. Its role would be to enhance the contribution of the faculty to shaping it and ensuring that the University performs its social function and that it is a space which nurtures academic activity of the highest standard. In fulfilling this role, it shall pursue the following specific aims and objectives:

1. To secure the working and service conditions that are necessary for teachers to work with dignity and give their best to the teaching-learning process and to research.
2. To promote a democratic structure of governance in the University such that all sections of the University community have their due role in decision-making processes; to preserve its autonomy; and to maintain it as a space which promotes critical thinking.
3. To promote and contribute to the debate and discussion within and outside the University on the Indian higher education situation, its context and the challenges it faces.  
4. To coordinate with other segments of the University community and their organizations, and with teachers organizations in other institutions, in the pursuit of its objectives.
    

The functioning of the AUDFA shall be governed by the following provisions:
 

1. Any member of the academic staff of the University, whether regular, temporary or visiting, full-time or adjunct, would be entitled to be members and would require to pay Rs. 180/- per semester as membership fee. Membership shall be renewable every semester.
2. The entire membership of the AUDFA would constitute its General Body which shall meet at least twice a semester. The General Body shall be the highest decision-making body of the Association. All provisions of this constitution shall also be subject to amendment by the General Body provided at least 1/2 of the members present and voting in a meeting specifically called for that purpose, and where at least 2/3 of the General Body is present, support such an amendment.
3. There shall be in addition an Executive Committee which shall be made up of representatives from each school elected by the Association members from these schools and three office-bearers – a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer – elected by the entire General Body from amongst its members, and a set of supernumerary positions to be filled by representatives elected from amongst themselves by temporary (non-permanent) academic staff. No one shall hold the position of an office-bearer/school representative for more than two terms in succession.
4. The number of representatives to be elected to the Executive Committee from each school will depend on the number of electors in that school and this group will include all the regular and temporary academic staff having that school as their primary affiliation (academic staff with some other school as their primary affiliation shall be excluded). The number of such positions of representatives to be filled shall be determined by rounding off the number of electors in the school to the nearest multiple of 10 that is not less than the number of electors and then dividing that multiple by 10 [Each school shall thus have at least one representative, two if the strength of its electors is between 11 and 20, three it is between 21 and 30 and so on].   
5. All temporary (non-permanent) academic staff, including those associated with the centres of the University, shall be represented additionally in the supernumerary positions of representatives using the same formula as in the case of schools outlined in d above. The total number of supernumerary positions may if necessary be divided amongst different groups of temporary academic staff (e.g. those associated with a particular centre) to enable separate representation. The Executive Committee with the approval of the General Body shall before every election determine the number of these supernumerary positions and their distribution between different categories of temporary staff.   
6. The term of any Executive Committee shall ordinarily be two years and it shall meet at least twice in three months. The Executive may decide on matters authorized to it by the General Body which shall also have the right to overrule or replace any decision of the Executive Committee.
7. The President shall preside over all meetings of the Executive Committee and the General Body, shall be responsible for convening these meetings in consultation with the Secretary, and shall organize the implementation of the decisions of the Executive Committee and the General body.
8. The Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining the records of all meetings and of other activities of AUDFA.
9. The Executive Committee from amongst its members will determine those who shall function as President and/or Secretary in the event that one or both are absent.
10. The Treasurer shall be responsible for receiving and spending funds under the guidance of the Executive Committee/General Body and for maintaining the accounts of the Association.
11. With the approval of the General Body, a bank account may be opened in the name of the Association in a public sector bank. The President/Secretary and the Treasurer shall be the authorized signatories for any such account.
12. Any group of members would be entitled to requisition a meeting of the General Body as long as a number not less than a tenth of its strength sign and submit such a requisition to the President. The President would be required to convene such a meeting within two weeks of receiving the requisition.
13. Every group of electors shall have the right to recall a representative or office bearer elected by them provided at least 1/2 of the members present and voting in a meeting of all electors specifically called for that purpose, and where at least 2/3 of these electors are present, support such a recall. Such meetings will have to be convened by the President on receipt of a requisition signed by at least a tenth of the relevant group of electors within three weeks of its receipt.