Text: Constitution

Pledge of the Student Council

We, the students of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, adopt the Constitution of the Student Council to ensure the holistic development of the student community. We will work morally and responsibly to ensure the welfare of students and to maintain an atmosphere of harmony in the institute. We promise to follow the principles enshrined in the Constitution in letter and spirit.

PREAMBLE

The following Constitution lays out organizing principles underlying the formation and functioning of the Student Council of IISER Pune. In all its function, the Student Council has the following core aims that shall guide all its actions, and are therefore held inviolable:

To include student voices in administration and decision-making processes wherever they impact student life, directly or indirectly, in order that the decisions made are in keeping with the needs of the student community,

To act, through representation to various institute-wide Committees, as an interface between the administration and the student body, facilitating communication in both directions, enabling prompt grievance redressal, and streamlining administrative processes where possible,

To maintain transparency of operation, both of the Council itself, and of the institute-wide Committees with representation, and

To act as a body for accountability in matters of administration of various aspects of student life.

In the spirit of self-administration, it is the belief of this community that students, as citizens, must actively shape their lives by engaging in the public discourse and contributing to decisions that affect their lives. To that end, the Student Council will act as a platform that encourages and nurtures such discourse, in order that the administration of student life always includes the administered, for the common benefit.

CHAPTER 1 : Definitions & Framework

1.1 Composition & structure

The Student Council, hereafter referred to as the Council, is a body composed of elected student representatives to all Committees, the matters discussed by which directly concern, or affect directly or indirectly, the academic, and extra- and co-curricular lives and activities of students. The representatives, by serving on such Committees, are responsible for voicing well-informed opinions that further the common interests of the general student body. The representatives shall be elected from the general student body as laid down in Chapter 3.

1.1.1 Committees with representation

There will be limited student representation on select institution-wide Committees as per Section 1.2.5. The list is liable to change, in accordance with institute policy. If the number of Committees requiring student representation changes, it shall be the responsibility of the sitting Council to ensure the proportion of representation as set out in Section 1.1.2.

1.1.2 Proportion of representation

Each Committee shall be assigned two student representatives or one-third the number of non-student members whichever is higher. The total size of the Council shall not exceed 30 representatives and each Council member shall only be assigned to one Committee at a time. If a requirement arises for more than 30 representatives, individual Council members may be assigned to represent student interests on more than one Committee. This assignment shall be the responsibility of the sitting Council. Each sex shall have a representation of no less than 30% in the Council, and this shall be implemented through the voting process as laid down in Section 3.3.3.

1.2 Members of the Student Council

1.2.1 General Secretary

Upon announcement of election results, from each of the two constituencies as defined in Section 3.3.2 in Chapter 3, the candidate with the highest share of votes shall be assigned the rank of General Secretary within the Council. The General Secretary, hereafter referred to as GS, shall together be responsible for coordinating Council logistics, including assignment of representatives to the Committees listed in Section 1.1.1 (as laid down in Section 2.1), collecting and collating suggestions from other Council members of agenda items for Council meetings, mediating Council discussions and steer discussions towards addressing agenda items, and publishing of minutes of Council meetings along with its agenda. The GS shall be of the same rank as other Council members, and shall not be granted any discretionary or administrative authority over other Council members; his or her role is limited to that of a facilitator of productive discussion within the Council.

The position will be reserved for women candidate for alternate years.

1.2.2 Finance Sub-Committee

Two of the candidates elected to the Council shall be brought together to constitute the Finance Sub- Committee under the Council itself. The Finance Sub-Committee shall act as keepers of the funds allocated to the Council, and shall be responsible for coordinating disbursement of funds to student clubs as approved by the management, as well as maintaining clear accounts of all transactions made through and/or on behalf of the Council. The Finance Sub-Committee shall fulfill these and other functions as laid down in Section 2.3.

1.2.3 Committee Representatives

Upon election, all Council members, including the GS and the Finance Sub-Committee, shall be assigned to various institution-wide Committees as laid down in Section 1.2.5. The assignees, hereafter referred to as Committee Representatives (CRs), shall have the same voice, and/or vote as the case may be, as teaching and/or non-teaching members in their respective Committees. The CRs are charged with effective representation of student interests in all matters that might come to their attention in the course of their term on their respective Committees, and shall also be required to maintain transparency in their work as a CR as laid down in Section 2.2.3. The Committee Representatives shall be required to receive any complaints pertinent to their Committee of representation from the general student body, and act proactively towards resolution, as laid down in Section 2.2.4.

1.2.4 Nominated Faculty Members

Two observers from IISER faculty, preferably COSA members, will be part of the Student Council.

1.2.5 Committees

The following committees, in no particular order, have been identified as requiring student representation as part of the Council:

1. Committee on Student Affairs (COSA)

2. Safety Committee

3. Sports Committee

4. Anti-ragging Committee

5. Dining Committee

6. Medical Committee

7. Convocation Committee

8. Grievance Redressal Committee

On the following committees, student representation will be only by invitation if desired:

1. Internal Complaints Committee (ICC)

2. Academic committee

3. Landscape committee

CHAPTER 2 : Roles & Functioning

2.1 Assignment of representatives

2.1.1 First Council Meeting

Upon announcement of election results, the GS of the Council shall convene a meeting with the newly elected members of the Council within a day of the announcement. This shall be considered the first Council meeting of the current Council’s term, and shall mark the beginning of deliberations on assignment of representatives to Committees. The GS shall provide a list of Committees to which representation is required, and the number of representatives required for each Committee, as laid down in Section 1.2.5. Council members, including the GS, may then nominate themselves to be assigned to a preferred Committee. For each Committee, nominations from within the Council shall thus be collected, and the Council shall vote internally on the nominations so collected. A simple majority shall be required for each Committee assignment to be confirmed. If multiple nominees acquire the same number of votes, out of which everyone cannot be selected, all members of the Council excluding the nominees in question shall vote to elect the required number of candidates from the nominees in question. In case the re-voting process is unable to determine the remaining members for the Committee, they shall be selected through a random process where the names of the nominees in question are written on chits and drawn at random. Council shall be given a period of one week from the day of the first Council meeting to reach a decision, and the GS shall make public minutes from this internal election process.

2.2 Committee-level representation

2.2.1 Information gathering

CRs shall be required to collect any and all information relevant to their role in their assigned Committee. This includes, but is not limited to, speaking to members of the general student body, receiving complaints and grievances relevant to their assigned Committee, and developing a thorough understanding of the responsibilities and duties of their assigned Committee.

2.2.2 Voting rights

CRs from the Council shall have the same voice, and/or vote if applicable, as teaching and nonteaching members of their assigned Committee. The CRs shall not be empowered to veto resolutions. CRs must strive to have a positive effect on their assigned Committee by presenting relevant opinions of student interest, and contribute to building consensus within the assigned Committee.

2.2.3 Transparency of operation

CRs are charged with maintaining complete transparency in all operations in their assigned Committee. CRs shall report to the Council on all matters under consideration in their assigned Committee during scheduled Council meetings (as laid down in Section 2.4.1). These reports can be in any form deemed acceptable by the Council, including but not limited to minutes of Committee meetings and email exchanges, provided said material do not violate the privacy of any parties involved. In such a case, the CRs shall indicate clearly where the records have been redacted.

2.2.4 Complaint handling and resolution

Members of the general student body may submit complaints regarding matters falling within the purview of a particular Committee to the corresponding CR, or any of the corresponding CRs. Upon receiving a direct complaint from a member of the general student body, the CR, or CRs, shall add the complaint to the agenda of the Committee, and undertake regular follow-up with the relevant administrative official or body. The CR is obliged to provide regular updates to the petitioner regarding the status of the complaint. In the event that the petitioner feels that the complaint has not been sufficiently addressed without sufficient feedback from the CR with whom the complaint was raised, the petitioner may make a submission to the Council through the GS, and/or to the Committee concerned directly. The GS shall ensure that the lack of action is addressed in the immediate next Council meeting, and the petitioner shall be informed on the outcome of this next meeting. If the petitioner feels that the Council’s actions are insufficient, a motion of no confidence

2.3 Finance Sub-Committee

The Finance Sub-Committee (FSC) will facilitate the allocation of budget to clubs and reimbursement of club expenditure.

2.3.1 Submission of reimbursement claims

Individual clubs shall forward proposed budgets for club activities to Dean, Student Activities through corresponding faculty coordinator. Upon approval, the allocated budget shall be notified to the Council. Any club may submit a reimbursement claim to the FSC of the Council as and when deemed necessary by the club coordinators. Any reimbursement claim shall contain all documents deemed necessary by the Accounts section including, but not limited to, bills and receipts of incurred expenses.

2.3.2 Disbursement of funds

FSC shall handle the reimbursement claims in co-ordination with the Accounts section. This can be done on a monthly or bi-monthly basis depending on the volume of expenses. After a claim has been submitted with the necessary documents, the same shall be reimbursed within a period of one month. The Council shall not be responsible for any loss of money incurred by clubs due to loss of documents by clubs or failure to submit reimbursement claims.

2.3.3 Bookkeeping & transparency

FSC shall maintain a record of fund allocations and reimbursement for each club. The record of financial transactions in the duration between two consecutive meetings shall be presented to the Council by the FSC during the bi-monthly meetings described in section 2.4.1. The FSC shall present these above-mentioned financial records to any member of the General body upon written request.

2.3.4 Presentation of Budget to Dean, Student Activities

The FSC shall present the budget to the Dean, Student Activities, at least one month before the end of the financial year. This budget will propose fund allocations for various clubs and activities for the forthcoming financial year. The procedure will be as laid out in 2.9.4.

2.4 Council-level functions

2.4.1 Review of Committee-level decisions

The Council shall meet on a bi-monthly basis, in the last week of the corresponding month, to discuss decisions made and grievances handled by all the Committees in the intervening period. The GS shall curate the agenda for this meeting, and all Council members may add agenda items over the course of their work. Complaints regarding lack of action against sitting Council members shall be given the highest priority, followed by Committee decisions for review by the Council. If the Council unanimously adopts a resolution against a decision made by a Committee in the intervening period, the corresponding CR shall communicate the Council resolution to their assigned Committee. The Committee shall review its decision in the immediate next meeting, and present the Council with an altered decision, or with a justification in case the decision is returned without change. The Council may send a Committee decision for review by the corresponding Committee once and only once.

2.4.2 Complaint handling and resolution

Complaints and/or grievances expressed by groups of 50 students or more, in the form of a written submission physical or online, shall be addressed through an emergency meeting of the Council. The emergency meeting of the Council shall identify the Committee pertinent to the complaint raised by the petition, and forward it to the identified Committee for immediate consideration. The Council shall make a submission to the petitioners within a week of the first petition being filed, detailing the action undertaken towards resolution in the intervening period. The petitioners may use this submission to present further petitions to the Council, to the relevant Committees, or as grounds to move a motion of no confidence against the Council as laid down in 2.8.2.

2.4.3 Operational transparency

As with Committee-level operations, operations of the Council shall also be made available for public scrutiny. This includes, but is not limited to, publishing minutes of Council meetings on an accessible online platform, publishing agenda items and corresponding progress, and maintaining a list of complaints and issues of student interest currently under the Council’s consideration.

2.4.4 Public outreach

The Council shall hold public meetings with the general student body at least once every semester, where members of the general student body may raise issues of common student interest, and the Finance Sub-Committee shall present an account of expenses towards student activities handled by the Council in the current semester.

2.5 Student clubs

Under the provisions of Chapter 2, the Council shall not play any administrative role in the functioning of student clubs on campus. A student club is defined as a collective of ten or more students pursuing a common academic, or non-academic extra- or co-curricular interest. The student clubs shall retain autonomy in matters of selecting their Internal Coordinators, planning club activities in keeping with the expressed interests of the club, and in formulating a budget corresponding to planned activities. The Council shall make no decision prohibiting in any degree the free pursuit by any student club of their stated activities of interest.

2.6 Removal of members

2.6.1 Disciplinary action

Council members against whom disciplinary action has been initiated on any basis by any institute-wide Committee shall be removed from Council membership forthwith, and their election rescinded without requiring a consensus, or a majority vote of any form, within the Council. The outgoing Council member need not serve any period of notice on the Council following dismissal.

2.6.2 Voluntary resignation

Council members may submit to resign from Council membership after serving at least one half of their full term on the Council. The outgoing Council member shall serve a notice period of two weeks, if so required by a consensus vote within the Council. This consensus shall be determined based on the determination of the Council regarding the filling of the outgoing Council member’s seat, as laid down in Section 2.7

2.7 Filling Vacancies

In the event of a Council seat falling vacant, the remainder of the Council shall meet within a week of the vacancy arising, and vote on holding a re-election to fill the vacant seat. The Council shall be granted the discretionary power to make this decision by consensus, and may choose to continue to function with the seat remaining vacant, without compromising the Council’s effectiveness.

2.8 Dissolution of the Student Council

2.8.1 End-of-term dissolution

Upon completion of their term, the GS shall call for a dissolution meeting, in which the Council shall review its activities over the past term, and leave a short report for the incoming Council, detailing their activities and agenda items remaining in their consideration. Following this report, the Council shall be dissolved, and a notification shall be sent to the Management for the constitution of an Election Committee. Page

2.8.2 Motion of no confidence

A motion of no confidence may be moved against particular Council members, or the Council as a whole, by members of the general student body, in case of systematic inefficiency of the particular Council member, or the Council itself. A motion of no confidence is defined as a petition that seeks to remove a Council member, multiple Council members, or all Council members, from office on grounds of inefficient and/or unsatisfactory action, and shall require the support of at least one- third of the members of at least two of the constituencies as defined in Section 3.3.2. Upon the submission of a motion of no confidence, the Council shall be dissolved forthwith, and re-elections shall be called.

2.9 Liaison with Dean, Student Activities

2.9.1 Regular Meetings of Student Representatives with the Dean

All Student Council representatives on various committees as listed in 1.2.5 will collectively meet the Dean, Student Activities at least once a month, as per a meeting schedule that is decided by the Dean, taking student schedules into account.

2.9.2 Special Meetings of Student Representatives with the Dean

Any of the Student Council representatives as listed in 1.2.5 can schedule to meet the Dean, Student Activities, if required, at any mutually convenient time to discuss urgent matters.

2.9.3 Meeting of all elected Student Council members with the Dean

All elected Student Council representatives will meet the Dean, Student Activities at least once a semester, as decided on a mutually convenient date.

2.9.4 Presentation of Budget by Finance Sub-Committee of the Student Council

The Financial Sub-Committee will present a project budget for all student activities and clubs to the Dean, Student Activities, at least one month before the end of the financial year. This budget will be vetted by the Committee of Student Activities (COSA), and the Dean, Student Activities, who will then propose the budget to the Budget Committee of IISER Pune.

CHApter 3 : Election

3.1 Election Committee

The Election Committee, hereafter referred to as EC shall conduct the Elections in a fair and transparent manner. The EC shall be constituted by the Management by the end of June.

3.1.1 Members of the Election Committee

The EC shall consist of only teaching and non-teaching staff of IISER Pune.

3.2 Term limits

All Council members shall hold their elected offices for a period of approximately one year, until the final dissolution meeting, as laid down in Section 2.8.1. No individual shall serve on the Council for more than two terms over the duration of his or her enrollment.

3.3 General elections

3.3.1 Voter eligibility

Every student who has been enrolled in the BS-MS, Int PhD, and PhD programs in IISER Pune for a period no lesser than 6 months and is registered for the semester in which the election is held shall be eligible to vote.

3.3.2 Constituencies & proportion of representation

The general student body shall be divided into two constituencies, namely, (i) BS-MS, and (ii) Integrated PhD and PhD. The number of representatives (rounded off to the nearest integer) to be elected from each constituency to the Council shall be in proportion to their population in the general student body.

3.3.3 Single transferable votes

General elections from the Council shall be carried out by a Single Transferable Vote system, hereafter referred to as the STV system. Each voter shall rank exactly n candidates amongst all the candidates within their respective constituency. This list of ranking, which shall also act as the ballot, of each voter shall satisfy the requirements of gender representation as laid out in section 1.1.2.

The election will be conducted with the single transferable vote system, which ensures a proportional representation method of election in which the voters will rank candidates in order of preference. The candidates that pass a specified electoral quota (cut-off) are elected and their surplus votes apportioned to the remaining candidates. In this way the results reflect fairly accurately the preferences of the electors. The cut-off is calculated with the following formula:

Cut-off = (Total Votes / (Total Seats + 1)) + 1

After the first preference votes are counted, any candidate whose votes exceed the quota is elected. Votes received by successful candidates in excess of the quota are transferred to other candidates according to the voters’ second preferences. Any surplus among subsequently elected candidates is similarly transferred, and so on, if necessary. If any seats are still vacant, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and all his/her ballots are transferred to the voters’ second preferences, and so on, until all seats are filled.

In order to ensure the aforementioned gender balance (as laid down in Section 1.1.2), once the maximum possible number of seats for a gender have been filled, all remaining candidates of that gender shall be removed from the list, and the process of STV shall be carried out as above, with any transferred votes being transferred only to candidates of the opposite sex.

3.3.4 Eligibility for candidates

Any member of the general student body, who has been enrolled in either the BS-MS, Int PhD, or PhD programs for a period no lesser than one year, is eligible to run for the membership of the Council. Candidates for Council membership must have achieved an Annual Grade Point Average (AGPA) of no lesser than 6.5 in the year of the election. Candidates for Council membership shall have no history of disciplinary action initiated against them over the past two years. Candidates for Council membership are also required to stay on the IISER campus, or within the Pune region. Under unavoidable circumstances, candidates may plan to be absent from the Council for a period no longer than one month per semester, over the course of his/her term.

3.3.5 Nomination process

The Election Committee shall call for nominations some time in the last two weeks of July. Prospective candidates for Council membership shall submit their nomination to the EC via email, along with a short write-up of 250-300 words, detailing what they wish to achieve by becoming a part of the Council. The nomination should be filed with the EC by the end of 1st week of August.

3.3.6 Online voting

The EC shall carry out the election by the end of the third week of August. The exact date shall be announced by the EC, no later than a week before the election date. The election shall be carried out through an online platform, on which students may cast their vote remotely over the internet. The system shall be in the form of a customized, cryptographically secure, open-source piece of software that shall implement the voting methodology as laid down in Section 3.3.3. The online election platform shall remain open for a period of 24 hrs starting from the prescribed time on the day of the election. The EC shall be empowered to make decisions of logistics and administration with regard to the smooth conduct of the election.

3.3.7 Announcement of results

The votes shall be evaluated, and the results determined by the software. The software shall be automated to announce the result of the election via e-mail to all members of the general student body, and identify the GS as laid down in Section 1.2.1. The results shall be announced in the form of a list of the successful candidates, and shall be made public by the software at the end of the prescribed duration of the election.

3.4 Model Code of Conduct

1. Candidates shall not spread negative propaganda against, or try to willfully defame any candidate or student, either directly or indirectly.

2. Posters will be fixed by the [EC], and no candidate shall be permitted to make use of printed posters, printed pamphlets, or any other material for the purpose of canvassing.

3. There are no restrictions on campaigning through social media (like Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

4. Email does not fall under the category of social media, and no candidate is permitted to use mass emailing to canvass for votes directly/indirectly.

5. No candidate is allowed to address the general body in any meeting and/or volunteer in any upcoming events until the elections are completed. A general public campaigning session will be conducted by the EC for the specific purpose of addressing the general body. However, the candidates are free to participate in any upcoming events.

6. After the general public campaigning session, all campaigning (through any physical media) is strictly prohibited.

7. It is the responsibility of a nominee to make sure that none of the community members are disturbed during his/her campaigning process. If a nominee threatens community members in any manner then it will lead to cancellation of his/her nomination. Intimidation or bullying of other candidates or voters will not be tolerated under any circumstance.

9. No candidate can promise personal incentives to any student in return for his/her vote.

10. Questioning/harassing any EC member is also not entertained. If a nominee is found doing so, strict disciplinary action will be taken against them.

11. If a candidate is absent for the public campaigning session then they shall forfeit their nomination. No leniency shall be shown under any circumstances.

12. No individual or organization that is unconnected with the IISER student body can canvas for, or publicly endorse, any of the candidates. The elections are internal to IISER and the spirit of keeping them limited to the institution is very important. If proof is found that a candidate is violating these guidelines, then EC can impose a penalty on the candidate or cancel his/her nomination.

Chapter 4 : Amendments to the Constitution

4.1 Definitions of amendments

4.1.1 Core principles of the Constitution

The Preamble to the Constitution articulates the core principles that underlie the structure and functions of the Student Council, and the scope of its influence. Any amendment to the Constitution brought by any party that directly or indirectly affects, changes or undermines these core principles, hereby termed Core Amendments (CAs), shall require at least 51% of the general body to vote in favor to be passed.

4.1.2 The non-core amendments

Amendments that do not affect the core principles articulated in the Preamble to the Constitution, hereby termed Non-core Amendments (NCAs), may be brought by any party within or outside the Student Council, within the general body.

4.2 Proposal of constitutional amendments

4.2.1 Constitutional amendment by the Student Council

Any member of the Student Council may propose an amendment to the Constitution. This proposal must be seconded by at least one other member of the Student Council, and sent to the GS via email and/or by a written submission, along with a recommendation of whether the proposed amendment must be designated a CA or an NCA, as defined in Section 4.1. The receiving GS must place the proposal in the agenda of the subsequent Council meeting, during which the Council shall debate the merits of the proposed amendment, including the recommended designation. In case the Council unanimously agrees on a proposal being designated an NCA, a unanimous vote by all Council members is necessary and sufficient for it to be adopted. In case of a CA, the Council must deliberate upon the merit of the proposed amendment, and must unanimously agree upon its validity. Subsequently, the GS may forward the proposed amendment to the general body and hold an online vote upon the amendment.

4.2.2 Registry of amendments to the Constitution

Sitting Council shall be responsible for maintaining a registry of amendments to the Constitution, as an additional section to the most recent draft of the Constitution. Proposed amendments of either kind as defined in Section 4.1, upon adoption by the respective process, shall be added to the registry, and shall include information about its category, refer to the older provision that has been amendment, and the date of its adoption. Corroborating references to the amended section must be included in the earlier version of the section. Sitting Councils may decide upon technical solutions that allow for more practical implementation of this record of amendments.

4.2.3 Transparency

The registry of amendments to the Constitution, as laid out in Section 4.2.2, must be made available on a public platform, and must be provided upon request to any member of the general body. Additionally, the Student Council shall present the same registry at its meetings with the general body along with other records of its functioning.

4.3 Withdrawal of a constitutional amendment

4.3.1 Withdrawal of a constitutional amendment by the Student Council

Withdrawal of an existing amendment is defined here as an amendment to the Constitution, and is therefore bound by the principles and processes laid in Sections 4.1 and 4.2.

4.3.2 Withdrawal of a constitutional amendment by general body consensus

1. Members of the general body may express their disagreement with an amendment made by the sitting Council, as a petition through the channels of grievance redressal, as laid down in Sections 2.2.4 and/or 2.4.2, and are entitled to responses from the Council, as granted under the same provisions.

2. Should the above petition fail with unsatisfactory responses from the sitting Council, members of the general body may also demand that an amendment made by the Council be withdrawn unconditionally within a period of two years from the adoption of the amendment, through a motion of withdrawal, which is here defined as a written or online submission made to any sitting Council member by a collective of at least one-third of at least one of the constituencies as defined in Section 3.3.2, detailing the objections of the petitioners. Upon receipt of a motion of withdrawal, the Council shall issue a public announcement of withdrawal of the amendment under question, along with the motion of withdrawal submitted by the petitioners.

3. Beyond this stipulated period of two years, the amendments made by the then sitting Council shall formally become part of the Constitution, and withdrawal of, or changes to, this amendment shall then be considered a fresh amendment as defined in Section 4.1.

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