INDIAN BOTANICAL SOCIETY
Founded on December 6, 1920
(Registered Under Act XXI of 1860)
RULES
(WITH AMENDMENTS UPTO MARCH 31, 2021)
The Indian Botanical Society had its inception in a resolution passed by the Botany Section of the Indian Science Congress at the Nagpur meeting in January, 1920. A Committee of organisation was consequently formed to carry this resolution into effect. This Committee consisted of the late Dr. P. Brühl of the University College of Science, Calcutta, the late Rai Bahadur K. Rangachariar of the Agriculture College, Coimbatore, the late Rai Bahadur Prof. Shiv Ram Kashyap of the Government College, Lahore, the late Prof. Birbal Sahni, then of the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Dr. W. Burns, then of the College of Agriculture, Poona and the late Dr. Winfild Dudgeon of the Ewing Christian College, Allahabad, with Dr. Dudgeon as Chairman.
In October 1920, the Committee sent out a letter to as many botanists as could be located in India, inviting them to become Charter Member of the new Society. It was agreed that 25 members would be considered sufficient for founding the Society and that the office bearers should be elected when this number was reached. The response to this invitation was so immediate and hearty that it was possible to hold elections for office bearers of the Society by about the middle of November. Upon completion of the election on December 6, 1920 the Society was declared duly organised, and the Committee of organization ceased to exist.
NAME, PURPOSE AND ACTIVITIES
1. The Society shall be called THE INDIAN BOTANICAL SOCIETY.
2. The purpose of the Society shall be to promote the cause of Botany in India in all its aspects.
3. The Society shall attempt to achieve this purpose:
(a) by publishing a botanical journal and special monographs;
(b) by holding general and local meetings with a view to diffuse botanical knowledge among the public and facilitate interaction between members;
(c) by encouraging original investigations;
(d) by organising efforts to create facilities for botanical work in the country;
(e) by starting chapters in various centres; if 20 or more ordinary members or fellows apply for such centres;
(f) by appointing sub-committees wherever and whenever they may be required;
4. Membership shall be open to all persons interested in Botany.
5. There shall be three classes of members, Ordinary, Life and Honorary fellows.
6. Members shall be admitted to the Society after being nominated by any two Members and elected either by a unanimous vote of the Executive Council of the Society or by a simple majority of the members present at an Annual Meeting. The membership will become effective only after the meeting and receipt of the admission fee and first annual subscription.
7. Life members of the society with at least of five years standing can apply for the fellowship. The applications shall be screened every year by the Executive Council and if found suitable for designation as fellows of the society, may be conferred with F. B. S. The process shall be treated as complete only when F. B. S. certificate is issued on payment of requisite fee of Rs. 1,500/-(amended during 30th AIBC 2007 at Gwalior).
8. Ordinary Members may become Life Members upon payment of twelve times the amount of annual subscription fee in a lump sum, provided that any Ordinary Member who has already paid a number of annual subscriptions may be allowed a rebate at the rate of half the annual subscription paid, up to a maximum of eight years. Further those ordinary members of the society who have continuous standing of thirty years and have retired from active services and attained the age of sixty years may be declared as Life Members. The membership fee shall be revised by the Executive Council from time to time (amended during 27th AIBC 2008 at Allahabad).
9. The number of Honorary Fellows shall not at any time exceed twenty. Such membership shall be restricted to persons eminent for their contributions to Botanical Science. Honorary Fellows shall be elected after unanimous recommendation of the Executive Council, and by four-fifths majority of those present and voting at the Annual Meeting, but not more than two will be elected in any year. They shall enjoy all the privileges of Ordinary Members without payment of fees, excepting that of holding office.
PRIVILEGES
10. The honorary Fellows shall receive a copy of the Journal and other publication of the Society free. The Life and Ordinary Members will have the following privileges:
(a) The members shall have free access to the journal from the website (amended during 33rd AIBC 2010 at Kolhapur).
(b) Receive other publications of the Society at half price.
(c) Borrow books and journals from the Library of the Society in accordance with the rules framed by the Executive Council.
(d) Hold any office of the Society on being duly elected thereto, provided they are life Members.
(e) Vote for elections to the offices of Secretary, Treasurer and Councillor to be elected for the Executive Council (excluding interim vacancies).
(f) Life members who have attained 65 years of age would get the copy of the journal only on request (amended during 28th AIBC,2009 at Shankarghatta,).
11. The local chapters shall also have the right to admit local student members on payment of Membership Fee of Rs. 200/- per annum. This money shall be utilized by the local chapters for meeting their expenses.
11(a) New chapters may be made where participation is of 25 Life members and 20 annual members (approved by EC,GB during 41st AIBC 2018 at Gwalior).
12. Ordinary, Life and Honorary Fellows shall have the right of communicating papers for the meeting and the Journal, and all members, including student members of local chapters, shall have the right of attending the Annual Meetings, but the student members shall have no voting right.
13. Fellows of Society shall be entitled to use the abbreviations F.B.S. after their names.
WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS
14. A member may withdraw from the Society by signing his/her wish to do so in a letter addressed to the Secretary. The society, however, shall not be liable to return any fee that may have been paid by the member in advance.
15. A withdrawing member whose subscription is not in arrear shall automatically recover the privileges of membership without re-election if he/she rejoins the Society within six months of withdrawal. He/she shall then be liable to pay all dues as if he/she had not withdrawn at all.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
16. Ordinary members from India and foreign countries shall pay towards admission fee and annual membership dues as fixed by the Executive Council from time to time. This shall be due on the first day of each calendar year and shall be paid in advance to the Treasurer.
17. Members whose subscriptions have expired and who have not paid for the current years by May 31st shall not be entitled to receive the journal and shall not have voting right.
18. The financial year of the Society for the purpose of accounts and office bearers will begin on the 1st of April and end on the 31st March (approved by EC, GB during 35th AIBC 2012 at Vadodara).
SUBSCRIPTIONS IN ARREARS
19. Members whose subscriptions are in arrears shall be excluded from the privileges of membership until they shall have paid the arrears.
20. The Treasurer shall at the end of the financial year, send to every member a letter or bill with a request to renew his/her subscription at his/her last known address. If the subscription remains unpaid, the Council may remove the member’s name from the Society register.
21. Any member whose name has been removed under the preceding rule, may be re-elected on payment of his/her arrears and payment of fresh admission Fee.
THE MANAGEMENT
22. There shall be:
(a) An Executive Council, which shall control and carry on all the affairs of the Society.
(b)An Editorial Board, which shall be responsible for the publication and distribution of the Journal.
(c) An Honorary Librarian, who shall be the Head of the Department of Botany in Banaras Hindu University provided he is a Member of the Society, to look after the library of the Society.
THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
23. The Executive Council shall consist of :
(a) the President,
(b) the Immediate Past President,
(c) the Vice-President,
(d) the Secretary,
(e) the Treasurer,
(f) the Chief Editor,
(g) the Hon. Librarian, Head, Department of Botany, BHU, provided he is a Life Member/Fellow of the society,
(h) 16 elected Councillors (not more than one from a town). The total number of members in the Executive Council, including office bearers and elected Councillor, should not exceed two from a town.
(i) Outgoing Secretary of the society will be an ex-officio member of the council as per decision taken by EC and GB (amended during 24th AIBC 2004 at Anantpur).
(j) All past office bearers of the Society, including Presidents, Secretaries, Editors and Treasures be made ex officio permanent members of the executive council with voting right (the recommendations and approval by the EC and GB held during 42nd AIBC 2019 at Calicut).
(k) All EC members will be exempted from Registration for the annual meeting i.e. AIBC w.e.f. 2009 (amended during 27th AIBC 2008 at Allahabad)
24. The President, the immediate Past President and the Vice-President shall serve for one year each; and the Secretary, the Treasurer and the Councillors for three years. The Councillor who have been in office for a term of three years shall retire from the Council and shall not be eligible for re-election until after the lapse of one year from the date of their retirement. The time of retirement of office-bearers shall be 31st March in the concerned year and the new office-bearers shall take office from the 1st April. The President of the Society shall be elected each year by the Executive Council through correspondence. No person shall hold the office of the President of the Society for a second time. The retiring President shall be the Immediate Past President. The Professor of Botany of the host university inviting and organizing the Botanical Conference shall be designated as the Vice-President for a period of one year after the Conference. Interim vacancies and other vacancies caused in the office of the Secretary, the Treasurer and the Councillor shall be filled by the Executive Council through correspondence for the period of the interim vacancy. The Secretary, the Treasurer and the Councillor shall be elected by the members of the General Body. Five members shall constitute the quorum of the Executive Council.
24(a). The Registration fee collected by Organising Secretary may be used by him/her with the condition that he/she will submit an audited account to the Secretary, IBS within a month from the commencement of the conference (approved by EC, GB during 34th AIBC 2011 at Lucknow).
25. The President (or, in his absence, the Vice President / the immediate Past President), shall preside at all the Meetings of Executive Council, Editorial Board and Annual Meetings of the Society and shall deliver and address at the Annual Meeting at which he presides. In the absence of all of them, the senior most member of the Council shall preside.
25 (a) Keeping in fitness with the past traditions and existing practices, the Society will keep on holding joint meeting of the Executive Council and Editorial Board during the All India Botanical Conference, thus take advantage of the experience of the Editorial Board Members, and other senior member(s) as special invitee in the best interest of the Society. However, only the EC members (Elected & Permanent) shall be entitled for voting right (approved by EC,GB during 41st AIBC 2018 at Gwalior).
26. The Secretary shall perform the duties usually devolving upon that office.
27. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the financial affairs of the Society during the term of his office and shall submit by the end of April each year the accounts of the Society (including a statement of assets and liabilities) for the previous financial year duly audited by a certified auditor appointed by the President.
28. The Place and agenda of the Annual Conference shall be finalized by the Executive Council.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
29. The Editorial Board shall consist of :
(a) One Chief Editor,
(b) One or two Editors in different eight sections. (it was accepted unanimously under the Chairmanship of Prof. H. Shekar Shetty, Mysore, during meeting of Executive Council held at Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi in XXVI annual conference of the Society).
(c) The Treasurer (Ex-Officio).
(e) The Secretary (Ex-Officio).
(f) Business Manager, to be elected by the Executive Council, who shall supervise the distribution of the Journal.
(g) One member nominated annually by each University of the Institution of Society which contributes Rs. 500/- or more to Society annually.
30. The Chief Editor, two Associate editors and members of the editorial board shall be selected and approved by EC and GB. One of the editors shall act as business manager who shall supervise the distribution of Journal and all other concerned correspondence.
30(a). Three Class III employee can be hired, one each to assist the office work of the Journal (the Chief Editor), the Secretary and the Treasurer. The Honorarium to the support staff shall be decided / revised from time to time by the Executive Council (approved by EC, GB during 32nd AIBC 2012 at Vadodara).
31. The subscription to the Journal from non-members shall be fixed by the Executive Council from time to time.
31(a) The journal will bring out two issues / 4 numbers every year (approved by EC and GB during 29th AIBC 2006 at Udaipur).
31(b) Pagination charges increased from 150/- to 200/- and will be in operation from Jan. 2009 (approved by EC,GB during 31st AIBC 2008 at Allahabad).
ELECTIONS TO THE OFFICES
32. All elections to the office shall be reported at the Annual Meeting of the Society. Interim vacancies both in the Executive Council and Editorial Board shall be filled up by the Executive Council, through correspondence.
33. The following procedure shall be adopted for election to the office of Secretary, Treasurer and Councillor (excluding interim vacancies). The Secretary shall cause a list of members of the Society to be circulated in the year of election and invite from members entitled to vote nominations from amongst the Life Members/Fellows of the society for each office falling vacant. Each nomination shall be accompanied by a written consent of the nominee. The Executive Council shall also nominate one member for each office falling vacant. For this, the Secretary shall invite the Executive Councillor to propose names for each office falling vacant. The names so proposed by the Executive Councillor shall be circulated to them for voting and those obtaining the largest number of votes shall be considered as nominees of the Executive Council. A list of names proposed by the members, together with the nominations of the council shall be circulated to members.
33 (a) A life member who has not attended any All India Botanical Conference in the immediate past three years shall not be eligible for election to different positions of the office bearers of the IBS. (As per the recommendations and approval of the EC and GB held during 39th AIBC 2016 at Ranchi).
34. All voting shall be by secret ballot on forms supplied by the Secretary and returned, as advised by him/her, in special envelops provided for the purpose.
35. The voting papers shall be scrutinized by the President and two other members nominated by him soon, so that the result may be declared before March 31 of the year.
36. The majority shall be elected. In case of tie it shall be decided by the draw of lots.
37. All retiring office-bearers shall be eligible for the re-election except those mentioned in Rules 20 and 24.
AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES
38. The above Rules may be amended at any annual General Meeting by three fourth members present and voting. Amendments may be proposed by any member and must reach the Secretary at least one month before the meeting.
LIBRARY RULES
(i) The Library is housed in the premises of the Society at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
(ii) Books/Periodicals may be borrowed only by members of the Indian Botanical Society in good standing and resident in India.
(iii) Volumes may be borrowed by applying in the prescribed form to the Hon. Librarian of the Society.
(iv) Not more than three numbers (bound or unbound periodicals or books) may be had at one time by a member.
(v) Books/Periodicals may be kept for a maximum period of three weeks from the date of issue by a member. If a book/periodical is not returned when due and this is repeated by a member on more than three occasions, he will permanently forfeit the privilege of borrowing from the library. Books may, however, be renewed for a further period of 15 days from the due date on requisition being received by the Hon. Librarian and at his discretion before the due date.
(vi)Books/Periodicals will be sent by V.P.P. and the charges for returning them by registered post will also have to be borne by the borrowing member.
(vii)The borrowing member shall be responsible for the loss of or damage to any book/periodical received by him/her (until it is received back by the Hon. Librarian) and he/she shall have to bear the cost of the book/periodical or replace the same in good condition.
MEDALS, AWARDS AND MEMORIAL LECTURES
In order to avoid the repetition and rationalize different Awards and Medals of the Society it was decided to classify such awards in different categories. An individual Life Member is eligible for only one award / medal under one category, except III(c) - (approved by EC, GB during 35th AIBC 2012 at Vadodara).
These awards (Category I, II and IV) are by nominations of the Executive Councilors and Medal Awardees of the last 5 years, except I(b); Category III by the Executive Council, Category V, VI and VII are by application.
The different categories for the various medals/memorial lectures are:
Category I: (a) Life Time Achievement Award,
(b) HY Mohan Ram Award for Excellence in Teaching and Advancement of Plant Sciences (instituted by the Society and approved by EC & GB during 41st AIBC 2018 at Gwalior).
Category II: Commemorative Medals in the name of:
(i) Prof. Birbal Sahni,
(ii) Prof. P. Maheshwari and
(iii) Prof. V. Puri..
Category III: Memorial Lectures Awards: the recipients (a life Member) could be considered keeping in view their eminence and long service to the society.
(a) Prof. Umakant Sinha Memorial Lecture / Prof. Arun Kumar Sharma Memorial Lecture – in alternate years.
(b) Prof. G. Panigrahi Memorial Lecture / Prof. LB Kajale Memorial Lecture – in alternate years,
(c) Prof .SN Chaturvedi Memorial Medal Lecture – to be delivered at a place of the Choice of the Awardee.
Category IV: Commemorative Medal in the name of: Prof. Y.S. Murty (restricted to age group below 40 years)*, cut off for age limit is 31st December of that Year.
Category V: (Restricted to age group below 50 years)*:
(a) Woman Scientist Medal ( by CV),
(b) Woman Botanist Award (oral presentation),
(c) Prof. Y.S. Murty Memorial Gold Medal (by CV)
(d) Prof. S.N. Dixit Gold Medal (for best Poster presentation).
Category VI: (Restricted to age group below 35 years)*:
(a)Young Botanist Award (oral presentation),
(b) Prof. K.S. Bilgrami Medal (best poster presentation).
Note: The inclusion of second author (Supervisor) along with the student is allowed in research papers presented for awards with the condition that : (i) Both the author should be life members, (ii) The guide has to provide a certificate that the work which is being presented is student’s work only. (amended during 36th AIBC 2013 at Gorakhpur)
Category VII: Prof. P.C. Trivedi Medal award for Editorial Excellence
Category VIII: Other Awards / Certificates / Cash Prizes*
A. Certificates of Merit / Medal in honor of senior botanists: (restricted to age below 30 years) - for the best paper presented during the All India Botanical Conference in the different 08 scientific sections of the botanical sciences.
B. Certificates of Merit in honor of senior botanists: (restricted to age below 30 years) - for the best Poster presented during the All India Botanical Conference in the different 08 scientific sections of the botanical sciences.
C. Prof. S.V.S. Chauhan Gold Medal: (restricted to age below 25 years)* for the best paper presented during the All India Botanical Conference.
Note for A,B,C: Inclusion of second author (Supervisor) along with the student is allowed in oral /poster presentation with the condition that: (i) Both the author should be members, (ii) The guide has to provide a certificate that the work which is being presented is student’s work only, (iii) The requirement of minimum number of Oral presentation by the eligible applicants in a given section to qualify for a medal shall be three oral presentations – condition relaxed from earlier requirement of six oral presentations (revised and approved by EC & GB during 36th AIBC 2013 at Gorakhpur).
D. Prof. S.C. Dixit Cash Prize : For publication in JIBS during the year by woman botanist in single authorship (restricted to age below 45 years)*.
*Note: The cut-off date for the Awards restricted to age group
In order to maintain uniformity, the cut-off date for age shall be 31st December of that year (approved by EC& GB during 36th AIBC 2013 at Gorakhpur).
E. Rolling Memorial Lectures to be organized at different places / botany departments spread all across India in memory of :
(i) Prof. Y.S. Murty, (ii) Prof. Atul R Mehta, and (iii) Prof. C.M. Govil.
