Theos-Talk Archives (December 1995 Message tl00116)

Herewith rules 1-10 inclusive of the Adyar TS incorporated in
1905 being the second upload from the beginning rules 3345
already separately uploaded:
--------------------------------
RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION NAMED
'THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY' ADYAR MADRAS

1. General Council

The General Council shall be the Governing Body of The Theosophi-
cal Society. All members of the General Council shall at all
times be Fellows of the Society and not fewer than seven members
of this Council shall be resident in India.

2. Members of the General Council

a The President the Vice-President the Treasurer the
Secretary and the General Secretaries of the component National
Societies otherwise called Sections shall ex-officio be members
of the General Council. The terms of those members of the General
Council who hold office ex-officio shall expire with the vacation
of their qualifying office.

b The General Council shall include not fewer than 05 and not
more than 12 Additional Members among whom all past Presidents
while in good standing shall automatically have place. Other
members shall on the nomination of the President be elected for
a term of three years by vote or the General Council at its
Annual Meeting their names having been sent to the Members of
the General Council at least three months before the Annual
Meeting.

c Members retiring shall be eligible for re-election. d The
Secretary shall be the Secretary of the General Council.

3. Removal of General Council members and officers

It shall be competent for the General Council to remove any of
its members or any officer of the Society excepting the
President of the Theosophical Society and excepting the General
Secretaries of National Societies by a three-fourths majority
or its whole number of members at a special meeting called for
the purpose of which at least three months' notice shall have
been given the quorum consisting however of not fewer than
five members.

4. Meetings of the General Council

a The General Council shall ordinarily meet once a year at the
time of the Annual Meeting or Convention of the Society; but a
special meeting may be called at any time by the President and
a meeting shall be called at any time by him or if not by him
by the Secretary on the written requisition of not less than
one-fourth of the total number of members; but of such special
meetings not less than three months' notice shall be given and
the notice shall contain a statement of the special business to
be laid before the meeting.

b Whenever at any time or place a Convention or other
function of the Society shall bring together a number of members
of the General Council the President at his discretion may call
such members to a meeting for the purpose of study and discussion
of any matters concerning the Society that he considers appropri-
ate to lay before them. The meeting may then forward to the
President its report on such matters and may make recommendations
thereon. Such meetings shall be of a consultative nature without
administrative or legislative authority or may be of a legisla-
tive nature upon the decision of the General Council taken at
least one year in advance.

In the event the President does not himself attend such a meeting
he may appoint the Vice-President or some other member of the
General Council to preside in his stead.

The President or his Deputy shall give not less than thirty days'
notice of such meeting to all members of the General Council who
may be expected to be present at the function that provides
occasion for the meeting but all members of the Council shall
have the right to attend.

5. Resolutions a On the request of any member of the General
Council any resolution or other item of business proposed by such
member shall be placed on the Agenda and circulated with brief
supporting statements for consideration at the next meeting of
the General Council provided that not less than three months'
notice of such resolution or item of business shall be given to
the Secretary.

b At all meetings of the General Council members thereof may
vote in person or in writing or by proxy duly given to another
member of the General Council for the particular meeting
concerned. Except as aforesaid no member shall exercise more than
one vote. No member shall be allowed to exercise more than 05
proxy votes.

Note: Meetings include adjourned meetings.

6. Quorum

The quorum of an ordinary as well as of a special meeting of the
General Council shall be five members. If there be no quorum the
meeting may be adjourned sine die or the Chairman of the meeting
may adjourn it to another date of which three months' further
notice shall be given when the business of the meeting shall be
disposed of irrespective of whether there is a quorum present
or not.

7. Who Shall Preside

The President or in his absence the Vice-President of the
Society shall preside at all meetings of The Theosophical Society
or of the General Council and shall have a casting vote in the
case of an equal division or the members voting on any question
before the meeting.

8. President

In the absence of the President and the Vice-President the
meeting shall elect a chairman from among the members present at
the meeting and he shall have a casting vote in the case of a
tie.

9. President's term of office

The term of office for the President shall be seven years from
the date of assuming office.

10. Election of President

The procedure for election to the office of President shall be
as follows:

a Seven months before the expiration of a President's term of
office or within three days or the office becoming vacant the
Executive Committee shall appoint a special Committee consisting
of three members of The Theosophical Society in good standing
including the Secretary but excluding any candidate for the
office of President to carry out the election procedure as
hereinunder detailed. This Committee shall be known as the
Election Committee and shall be answerable only to the Executive
Committee. It shall be automatically dissolved on the declaration
of the voting result.

b Immediately on its appointment the Election Committee shall
instruct the Secretary to send out to the members of the General
Council a written call for nominations for the office of
President. The call for nominations shall be sent by airmail or
other expeditious means if airmail be unavailable followed one
week later by a second duplicate call.

c Any member of the Society in good standing having been a
member for at least ten consecutive years immediately preceding
his nomination may be nominated. Each member of the General
Council who is a General Secretary shall be entitled to make
three nominations and shall consult his Governing Body before
making nominations. The President shall be entitled to make three
nominations. The Vice-President Secretary Treasurer and each
Additional Member of the General Council shall be entitled to
make one nomination. The nominator shall be responsible for
ensuring that his nominations reaches the Secretary within ten
weeks of the date of the call for nomina- tion. The nominee shall
be responsible for notifying the Secretary within the above-
mentioned period of his acceptance of nomination. One written
consent shall suffice for all nominations for that nominee.

d At the expiration of ten weeks the Election Committee shall
place all the nominations received together with the relevant
papers before the Executive Committee at a meeting especially
convened for the purpose. At such meeting the Executive Committee
shall examine the nominations. The three nominees having the
highest number of nominations shall alone be qualified to be on
the voting list but if two or more nominees qualify for the
last place on the voting list they shall both or all be
included in the list. No nominee shall be included in the voting
list unless supported by at least twelve nominations. The names
of the nominees who thus qualify for inclusion shall be listed
in alphabetical order. This list as finalized by the Executive
Committee shall be the voting list and shall not be subject to
challenge. However in the event of a nominee dying or being so
seriously incapacitated as to be unable to carry out the
Presidential duties if elected between the date of the call for
nominations and the despatch of the voting list the nomination
procedure shall be repeated commencing within seven days from
the notification of the fact to the Secretary.

e The Secretary shall then immediately communicate in writing
by airmail or other expeditious means followed one week later
by a second and duplicate communication the voting list together
with biographical data of the candidates in accordance with
Appendix A to these Rules to the General Secretaries Regional
Secretaries Organizing Secretaries and Presidential Representa-
tives and to the Lodges Branches and Fellows-at-large attached
to Headquarters. Each General Secretary Regional Secretary
Organizing Secretary and Presidential Representative shall make
known the names of the candidates and their biographical data to
the members in his area and take the votes in accordance with the
instructions in Appendix B to these Rules of the individual
members on the rolls of his National Society or area or adminis-
tration who have been members in good standing for two full years
as on the date of the call for nominations and shall communicate
the results to the Secretary in accordance with the instructions
given in Appendix B to these Rules.

The Election Committee shall take the votes in accordance with
the instructions given in Appendix B of these Rules of the
members of the Lodges Branches and Fellows-at-large attached
to Headquarters who have been members in good standing for two
full years as on the date of the call for nominations. The voting
results must reach the Secretary within fifteen weeks of the date
of issue of the voting list by him.

If only one name remains on the voting list the vote shall be
taken on a 'For' or 'Against' ballot.

f At the expiration of fifteen weeks from the date of issue of
the voting list by the Secretary the voting results shall be
totalled by the Election Committee and placed before the
Executive Committee.

Within three days of the closing date of voting the candidate
who has received the largest number of votes shall be declared
elected President and shall assume office not later than thirty
days thereafter. In the event of a tie or of the rejection or
a single candidate in a ' For' or 'Against ' ballot or of a
candidate on the voting list dying or being so seriously in-
capacitated as to be unable to carry out the Presidential duties
if elected after the despatch of the voting list and before the
final totalling of votes the nomination and election procedure
shall be repeated commencing within seven days from the
notification of the fact to the Secretary and the President in
office or the Vice-President if he is temporarily filling such
office shall continue therein until a new President assumes
office.

Note. A member is in good standing if his dues have been paid for
the last official year to his Section Regional Association or
Presidential Agency or in the case of Lodges Branches attached
direct to Adyar and Fellows-at-large to the Secretary or
Treasurer concerned.
-----------------------------------------------------
AB
--
Member Theosophy International.
Member Human Race.