Constitution for Management of the Schools of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

PREAMBLE: Whereas it is deemed necessary to make provision for Management of the schools belonging to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, to give guidance and directions and to exercise necessary control over the administration, management and expansion of these educational institutions, the ManagingCommittee of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in the exercise of powers under Section 86 of the Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church with approval of Holy Episcopal Synod of the said Church, makes the following provisions.

This Constitution shall come in to force with effect from such date as declared by the Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East, the President of the Holy Episcopal Synod in consultation with the said synod.

This Constitution on such declaration as stated above shall supersede all existing constitutions and / or other rules for management of all or any of the schools of the Corporate Management of the Church or such schools brought under the said management.

CHAPTER-1 PRELIMINARY

Application (1) This Constitution shall apply to all schools now owned by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and administered under its Corporate Management known as the Catholicate & M.D Schools Corporate Management and also to schools which may hereafter be established or acquired by the church or brought under its control and management.

A list of schools of the church now owned and managed by the church is appended in schedule below. Definition:- In this constitution unless context otherwise requires

• Association Secretary means the Secretary of the Malankara Associations.
• Board means the Governing Board constituted as hereunder for management of the schools.
• School or Schools means School or Schools as the case may be which belong to the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as mentioned in the schedule below and included in the said schedule from time to time as decided by the Board.
• Church means the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as postulated under the Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
• Educational Agency means educational agency as defined in the relevant statutory enactments and in this case the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church represented by the Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East as under the Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
• Episcopal Synod means the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as under the Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
• Malankara Association means the Malankara Syrian Christian Association of the church.
• Manager means the Manager appointed by the Educational Agency and includes the person acting as Manager for Management of Catholicate & M.D Schools Corporate Management.
• Managing Committee means the Managing Committee of the Church constituted under the Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
• Secretary or Secretary for the Corporate Management of Schools of the Church means the Secretary appointed by the Educational Agency.

CHAPTER II – MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOLS

The Management of all the schools included in the schedule hereunder and those added on to the schedule from time to time, shall vest in the Governing Board / Board constituted by the Educational Agency consisting of

• The Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East as under the Constitution of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
• Successor elect to the Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East.
• One Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church elected by the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and appointed by the Educational Agency who shall be the Manager for the Corporate Management of schools.
• The Priest Trustee of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
• The Lay Trustee of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
• The Association Secretary.
• 9 persons elected from the Managing Committee of the Church by the said Committee of whom 3 shall be priests.
• Not more than six persons including two experts in the field of Education, nominated by the Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East, from among members of the Malankara Orthodox Church.

NOTE:- For the purpose of recommending a person to be appointed as Manager, or Secretary of schools or both, the Board shall be deemed complete with out the Manager or Secretary or both as the case may be.

The President and vice Presidents

• The Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East shall be President of the Board and Successor elect to the Malankara Metropolitan and Catholicos of the East shall be the Senior Vice President and other Metropolitans who are members of the Board shall be Vise Presidents of the Board.
• In the absence of the President and the Senior Vice President the senior most of the Vice Presidents shall preside over meetings.

Period of office of elected and nominated members

The term of office of the elected and nominated members of the Board shall be five years from date of their election or nomination provided however they shall continue to hold office after the said period till their successors are elected or nominated as the case may be and they assume office.

Forfeiture of membership and filling up of vacancies

• Notwithstanding anything contained in clause 5 above an elected member of the Board shall forfeit his office if he ceases to be member of the Church or if he absents himself from three consecutive meetings of the Board unless his absence is condoned by the Board.
• The vacancy arising among elected members of the Board by death, resignation of forfeiture shall be filled by the Managing Committee.
• The nominated member of the Board shall also forfeit his office if he ceases to be a member of the Church or for absence from three consecutive meetings of the Board in the same manner as an elected member. The vacancy arising among nominated members shall be filled up by the Malankara Metropolitan cum Catholicos by nominating another person of the same category.

Powers of the Governing Board

Without prejudice to the generality of the powers vested in the Governing Board for managing the affairs of the schools, the Board shall have power.

• To lay down and control the general policy of the schools, apply for New Schools and to sanction the introduction or abolition of course of study,
• To appoint the teaching and non-teaching staff including the head masters of schools, to transfer them from one school to another, to institute disciplinary proceedings and to impose punishments including discharge, removal and dismissal from service against all or any of them, subject to the provisions in the Statutory enactments that are valid and binding on the Educational Agency, Provided that in the matter of selection and appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff of schools, the Board shall appoint from time to time and for such durations it thinks fit a Staff selection Committee of not more than 5 members from among the members of the Board and also others from outside the Board if found necessary and expedient,
• To lay down principles for admission of students for determination of seniority among members of the teaching and non-teaching staff of the schools and for their promotion to any higher grade or scale of pay in accordance with the provisions of law that are valid and binding on the Educational Agency, subject to provisions in KER,
• To declare completion of probation and confirm to extend period of probation or to discharge a probationer from service or to revert him to his original appointment as the case may be subject to statutory rules and regulations thereto,
• To construct or reconstruct and alter construction of any building for purpose of the school or schools and to maintain them in good repair,
• ( To raise funds and to invest the funds of the schools in any nationalized bank or other approved securities and to authorize the Educational Agency and Manager to operate bank accounts and withdraw any deposits or securities,
• (g) To provide for applying and recovering any maintenance or other grants and to expend them in appropriate manner,
• (h) To control the financial affairs of school or schools and pass annual and supplementary budgets and to approve annual statements of accounts,
• To constitute committees and sub committees for managing the affairs of the schools or schools and to delegate to such committees any of the powers of the Board,
• To make bye-laws and rules or regulations not in consistent with this constitution for managing the affairs of the schools, and Generally to do all and such other things that are necessary and incidental and conductive to the proper management of the affairs of the schools.

The board’s duty to maintain accounts

The Board shall be responsible for the maintenance of true and proper accounts relating to each school: to cause preparation of annual statements of accounts and balance sheets there of and to keep them in the office of the Corporate Management and further to prepare a consolidated statement of accounts audited by a Chartered Accountant regarding the working of the office of the Corporate Management of schools and furnish a copy thereof to the Managing Committee within six months of the closing of every accounting year.

Appointment of Manager

• The Educational agency in consultation with the Board and on the recommendation of the Holy Episcopal Synod appoint a Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as Manager for Management of the Schools to be designated as Manager of Catholicate & M.D Schools. The term of office of the Manager shall be for a period of five years. In the absence of any such person or in the event of inability to function for any reason whatsoever the powers of the Manager shall vest with the President of the Governing Body.
• The Manager shall be the representative of the Board and Educational Agency in all matters concerning Management of any school or schools and shall have such powers and duties as stipulated in the Kerala Education Act and Rules there under and other rules and directions subject to the control and supervision of the Board and Educational Agency. He shall sign appointment orders, apply and receive grants, exercise disciplinary control over staff and have general control over finance. The Manager shall be responsible to keep a seniority list of teaching and non-teaching staff from time to time. The Manager shall act only subject to the directions and guidance of the Educational Agency and the Board and it shall always be open to the Educational Agency and Board to revoke or countermand any thing done or any action taken by the Manager without stating any reason.
• It shall be the duty of the Manager to prepare or cause to be prepared an annual report of the working of the management of the schools and to forward one copy thereof to the Association Secretary to be placed before the Managing Committee for their perusal and suggestions for improvement in any matter of Management.
• Suits and proceedings by or against any school or schools may be instituted by or against the Manager.

Secretary of the Corporate Management

• The Educational Agency on the recommendation of the Governing Board shall appoint a competent person as the Secretary of the Corporate Management of schools who shall be designated also as the Secretary of the Schools.
• The Secretary of schools shall function subjects to the control and directions of the Board and the Manager. He shall also assist the Manager in all matters relating to the management of the schools and report to the Manager in respect of all things done or actions taken by him.
• It shall be the duty the Secretary of Schools to see that true an proper accounts are maintained of all receipts and expenditure in respect of Corporate Management of schools and each school. The Secretary of Schools shall also be responsible to maintain all correspondence, documents, files and other records in proper order and he shall be the general custodian on all such things.
• The Secretary of Schools shall maintain true and proper minutes of all proceeding of meetings of the Board.

Meeting of the Governing Board/Board

• The Board shall meet once at least in six months. The meeting may be convened by the President or on his order by the Secretary for Schools at such place and time as may be decided by the Board and in the absence of such decision at such place and time as may be fixed by the President.
• On the orders of the President, the Secretary for schools as the case may be shall issue to all members of the Board not less than two weeks notice of the meeting showing the time and place and agenda for the meeting.
• The quorum for the meeting of the Board shall be one third of the members of the Board, existing on the date of notice for the meeting provided that at least one of the members attending the meeting shall be the President, Senior Vice President, or a nominee of the President.
• The Board shall be competent to function not withstanding any vacancy existing among any class of members and existence of such vacancy shall not invalidate or affect the legality of any action taken or thing done by the Board.

Chapter III-Staff of the Schools

• There shall be one common seniority list for the teaching and non teaching staff respectively of all the schools subject to the statutory provisions. Any complaint regarding seniority shall be decided by the Manager and the decision of the Manager shall be appealed against the Board whose decision shall be final.
• Transfer of members of staff The Members of the staff of schools shall be liable for transfers from one school to another. Such transfers shall be made only in the interests of the school concerned or for any other good or proper reason and the decision of the Manager shall be final and binding on all persons concerned.

Public Schools

The public schools under the Management shall be administered subject to the provisions in the Rules of concerned authority like CBSE.

Minority Rights

The rights and privileges of the Minority Community shall be protected and maintained.

Amendment of the Constitution

This constitution shall be liable to amendment by a two third majority vote of a meeting of the Managing Committee in which not less than fifty percent of its members are present provided that notice of the pro-posed amendments shall have been given to members of the Managing Committee at least 21 days before its meeting provided further that no amendment shall take effect unless it is assented to by the Holy Episcopal Synod.

(as passed in the Managing Committee meeting on 21-03-1996. The constitution is approved by the Director of Public Instruction, Thiruvananthapuram as per order No. ET.3/4625/97/K-Dis dt. 29-06-1999).