OPEN LETTER ISSUED AT MYSORE CONFERENCE 2003

SOME FACTS ABOUT IACS :

OPEN LETTER ISSUED IN 2003 AT MYSORE CONFERENCE

IACS was founded by Dr. Om Juneja and six other professors of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda on 20 February 1985 in Baroda at the First Indian Seminar on Canadian Studies funded by University Grants Commission.

• Registered as a Public Trust No. F/409/Vadodara under Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 and Society No. Gujarat/693/Vadodara under Societies Registration Act 1860 in 1986 with its Registered office at: Department of English, Faculty of Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara 390 002.
• Was affiliated to INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CANADIAN STUDIES in May 1987 by me when I was the Secretary and Professor J. Birje-Patil, Head, Department of English, M.S. University, Baroda was the President of IACS.
• Was registered for receiving grants from Canada under Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act (FERA), 1976 with Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs in 1990 with Registration No. 041960074 with the condition that all the foreign contibutions under this Act will be received through Indian Bank, Fatehgunj Branch, Vadodara Savings Bank Account No. 5036.
• First grant of CND 10,000/= was received in 1987 and last grant of CND 80,000/= was received in 1994 when I was president, IACS.
• Life Membership rose from two dozen in 1986 to 600 in 1994.
• Constitution was illegally amended when the President was on Sabbatical Leave in Canada and all the office equippment including fax machine, computers, telephones and all the records were removed from Baroda to Delhi subsequently.
• Violating FERA rules, a new account was opened in the name of IACS in Delhi. This matter is pending before the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara and also with Government of India for action.
• Inspite of a vote of dissent by Dr. Juneja, the fraudulant "utilisation certificate" for Delhi University workshop expenditure incurred by Dr.Chandra Mohan and Prof. KRG Nair was accepted and the auditors were changed from Baroda to Delhi. This matter of fraud due to double accounting of the grant is pending for Order of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara.
  
  

FINANCIAL MISAPPROPRIATIONS

1. Dr. Jaydipsinh Dodiya, President, Saurashtra University Teachers' Association and a Life Member IACS, in his application dated 03/02/2005 to the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara has pleaded for an inquiry into the financial misappropriations of the Life Membership Fees collected by the Office Bearers. These fees have not been deposited in the Indian Bank Fatehgunj Vadodara account No. 6376 since 1998. It is estimated that IACS has collected at least Rs. 4,00,000.00 (four lakhs) from about 200 members. This amount has neither been deposited in Indian Bank Vadodara nor has it been reflected in the audited accounts of IACS.

This application is pending for order of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara.

2. The Charted Accountants who audit the accounts have not been changed since 1994 when they charged a fee of Rs. 10,00o for auditing a grant of approximately CND 80,000 and now they are charging Rs. 60,000 for auditing a grant of about CND 20,000. Except for last year their appointment was not done at the Annual General Body Meeting, whis is always held on the last day of the 4 day conference in the evening when most of the members are in a hurry to return.

3. According to an estimate IACS EC has spent about 2.5 lakhs on fighting a legal case that it has lost. The legal cost of the Appeal is yet to be added to this.

4. It is estimated that 40% of grant is spent on administration including litigation and air travel of the caucus and EC meetings.

5. The same publisher and printer has been publishing the Newsletters with the same editor and IJCS for the last 15 years. No open quotations are invited for these publications.

BRIEF HISTORY

IACS was born in Baroda in 1985 at a UGC sponsored national conference at The Maharaja Sayajirao Univeristy of Baroda. It was registred as a Trust and a Society in Gujarat by Charity Commissioner Vadodara in 1986 and was administred from the Registred Office in Baroda.

During the abscence of the President, Dr. Om P. Juneja, on Sabbatical Leave in Canada, Dr. Chandra Mohan, the then Secretary and others illegally amended the Constitution and took the IACS office to Delhi in 1995.

In spite of Vote of Dissent by the ousted President, a fraudulant "Certificate of Utilisation" was accepted to cover up the fraud of double accounting done by Drs. Chandra Mohan and K.R.G. Nair in 1996. Violating the FERA rules, some people opened a Bank Account in 1998 at State Bank of India branch of South Campus Delhi University.

No grants from Government of Canada are deposited in the registered Bank Account at Baroda. Life Membership fees of about 200 persons amounting to 400,000/= (Four Lakhs) are NOT deposited in the Membership Account of the Bank at Baroda since 1998. Where is this money? No one including the President, Secretary and Treasurer answer this question.

Dr. Chandra Mohan filed a "Change Report" pleading for change in the names of the Trustees as well as Amended Constitution in 1995. It was rejected and "filed" by Assistant Charity Commissioner in 1997.

Dr. O. P. Juneja, the Authorised Trustee, received notices from Charity Commissioner for non payment of dues in 2000. He asked Dr. Jameela Begum, Dr. S.S. Sharma and Dr. D.K. Pabby to present the accounts to Charity Commissioner Vadodara in 2001 and 2002. As no action was taken, he filed an affidavit in 2002.

Dr. Jammeela Begum filed the "Change Report" in December 2002 pleading for change in the names of Trustees and acceptance of the new constitution approved in 1995. Like the earlier "Chanage Report" filed by Dr. Chandra Mohan, this was rejected by Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara on 22.3.2006.

Dr. C.P. Ravichandra has filed an appeal against the Order of the Assistanat Charity Commissioner. This is pending before the Joint Charity Commissioener Vadodara for an Order.

DOUBLE ACCOUNTING:DELHI UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP

FINANCIAL MISAPPROPRIATION: DELHI UNI WORKSHOP 1993.

Double Accounting of Workshop on Canadian Studies held at Delhi:

Indian Association for Canadian Studies gave a grant of Rs. 30,000.00 to the Co-ordinator for a workshop on Canadian Studies held in Delhi in March 1993. While the original bills, vouchers, and receipts were sent to Delhi University, IACS was given their photocopies. The Auditors of the Association rejected these photocopies of the original bills submitted and accounted for by another funding agency. As the report of the Auditors was not acceptable to the co-ordinators (Drs. Chandra Mohan and K.R.G. Nair) of the Workshop who by then had become Office-bearers of the Association, the Auditors were changed from Baroda to Delhi and a fraudulent Utilisation Certificate was accepted by the Executive Committee at its meeting held in 1996 despite a vote of dissent by the Past President, IACS. These photocopies bear the signatures of Dr. Chandra Mohan, the then Secretary and then the President of the Association.

Dr. O. P. Juneja has filed an application No. Misc. 30/03 regarding this to Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara. It is pending for Order of ACC.

ACCOUNTS AND FINANCIAL MATTERS

Indian Association for Canadian Studies is registered with the Government of India for receiving Foreign Contributions under Registration No. 041960074. Under FERA (now FEMA) rules. It is required to receive all the Foreign Contributions in the SB A/C 5036 opened for this purpose with Indian Bank, Fatehgunj, Baroda. Dr. Jaydipsinh Dodia, a Life member, has reported the violation of this Act to Government of India in his letter dated 25 May 2005 as no Foreign Contributions have been credited to this account since 1999 and also about the illegal account No.15019 in the name of IACS with State Bank of India, South Campus Delhi University branch.

Dr. O. P. Juneja, the Authorised Trustee IACS represented this violation of FERA rules and other financial irregularities, misappropriations and embezzlement to Canadian High Commission, New Delhi, and Government of Canada, Ottawa.

Consequently, Canadian High Commission has stopped funding IACS directly since September 2006.

In the light of the Order dated 22.3.2006 of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara, a legal notice has been served to Dr. C.P. Ravichandra on 12.10.2006 asking him to deposit all the savings/ surpluses of earlier grants in the registered Savings Bank Account No. 5036 with Indian Bank, Fatehgunj. Similarly, all the Membership fees (annual as well as life membership fees) be deposited in Savings Bank A/C No. 6376 of Indian Bank, Fatehgunj, Vadodara. Failing which matter will be reported to Government of India for action under FERA (FEMA 1999).

LEGAL NOTICE TO DR. C.P. RAVICHANDRA

LEGAL NOTICE TO RAVICHANDRA: OCTOBER 2006

Ravindra M. Joshi Office: E/2, Laxmi Apartment
B.Sc.. LL.B., D.L.P. Nr. Bholabhai Mata Mandir,
ADVOCATE R.V. Desai Road, BARODA PH. 241 3085
(Gujarat High Court ) Resi: 21/B JANAKPURI SOCIETY
MANJALPUR, BARODA -11
PH: 264 3557

O/W No. 13 / 2006-07
Dated: 12 October 2006

Dr. C.P. Ravichandra,
Department of English,
University of Mysore
Mysore - 570006

SUB: LEGAL NOTICE

I, advocate Ravindra M. Joshi, under the instructions and information from Dr. O. P. Juneja, the Authorized Trustee of the Indian Association for Canadian Studies, Vadodara hereby serve you this notice as under:

You are hereby informed to follow in letter and spirit the Order (the operative part of the judgement) quoted below of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara passed on 22 March 2006 (copy enclosed) in the matter of the change Report Number 275/02 filed by Professor Jameela Begum and subsequently by Dr. Chandra Mohan.

ORDER

This Change Report is rejected. Action should be taken to record this Order on the
PT R and the concerned parties be informed about his Order.

The implications of this Order are the following:

· No activities of IACS including the new constitution, the elections, the office-bearers, and members of the Executive Committee after 1994 are legal.

· The Trustees of IACS are the nine founding trustees including Dr. O. P. Juneja as the Authorised Trustee. Please refer to paragraph 7 of the judgement, which reads,
“Hence the Executive Committee which was recorded in 1986 still continues to be in existence.”

· The Change Report that was submitted by Dr. Chandra Mohan in 1995 and was “filed” by the Charity Commissioner in 1997 has now been rejected completely. Please refer to the following paragraph 9 of the judgement:
“Apart from this, after examining the affidavits filed by the Applicant and Dr. Chandra Mohan, the veracity of the above facts cannot be proved… Under these circumstances, this Change Report is not worthy of acceptance”.

· IACS cannot have any office outside Baroda as the registration of Indian Association for Canadian Studies Vadodara is in Gujarat and therefore for all operational purposes it is a Gujarat body. To have an all India registration it should have had seven trustees from seven different states of India at the time of registration.

· Only the initial trustees from Baroda can operate the academic, administrative, financial and any other activities IACS.

· There already exists a bank account of the initial body and all money in whichever account of the IACS needs to be deposited and transferred there.

2. ACCOUNTS AND FINANCIAL MATTERS:
You may note that Indian Association for Canadian Studies is registered with the Government of India for receiving Foreign Contributions under Registration No. 041960074. Under FERA (now FEMA) rules, it is required to receive all the Foreign Contributions in the SB A/C 5036 opened for this purpose with Indian Bank, Fatehgunj, Baroda. Dr. Jaydipsinh Dodia, a Life member, has reported the violation of this Act to Government of India in his letter dated 25 May 2005 as no Foreign Contributions have been credited to this account since 1999 and also about the illegal account No.15019 in the name of IACS with State Bank of India, South Campus Delhi University branch.

We may inform you that the Association has no other bank account anywhere in India or abroad and it is illegal to have such accounts in the name of IACS, which is registered both as a Trust and as a Society with Charity Commissioner Vadodara and Registrar of Societies Vadodara. You are hereby directed to give complete accounts until date to my client and to transfer all the Foreign Contributions and other moneys to this account within 15 days from the receipt of this letter. Failing which legal action will be taken against all those who are responsible for the violation of FERA (FEMA) rules and for non-c0mplieance of the Order of the Assistant Charity Commissioner, Vadodara.

My clients had also represented about this violation of FERA rules and other financial irregularities, misappropriations and embezzlement to Canadian High Commission, New Delhi, and Government of Canada, Ottawa. Consequently, Canadian High Commission has informed you that no grants can be released to you. The said letter of 12.09.06 however shows you some indirect ways and means to receive grants from the High Commission. In our opinion, the actions taken by you on the said letter are violative of the following rule of FERA for which you can be persecuted and you will be liable for dishonouring the above quoted Order of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara.

In the light of the Order dated 22.3.2006 of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara, I hereby direct you to deposit all the savings/ surpluses of earlier grants in the registered Savings Bank Account No. 5036 with Indian Bank, Fatehgunj. Similarly, all the Membership fees (annual as well as life membership fees) be deposited in Savings Bank A/C No. 6376 of Indian Bank, Fatehgunj, Vadodara. If you fail to deposit all such moneys to these accounts within 15 days from the receipt of this letter, legal action following the Bombay Public Trust Act will be taken against you.

3. RECORDS AND ASSETS OF THE ASSOCIATION:
In view of the above Order, I hereby inform you that all the minutes, agendas, and records of the Association including the files of correspondence with members and others in the name of the Association be sent to the Registered Office in Baroda. Further, that all the assessts including fax machines, computers, telephones etc. be also sent to the registered office of the Association at Baroda.

4. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND ELECTIONS:
In a circular letter printed on the letterhead of Indian Association for Canadian Studies dated July 25, 2006 in the names of D. K. Pabby, Secretary, and C. P. Ravichandra, President, it has been announced that the XXIII IACS International Conference will be held on February 23-25, 2006 at University of Jammu. I hereby inform you that you cannot announce and organise the said conference without complying the above quoted Order of the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara. Further that you are required to consult my client before announcing or organising any such conference or event, as he is the authorised trustee of IACS.
Following the set practice the Annual General Body Meeting may also take place during this Conference. You are hereby informed that the said meeting will be illegal and a clear violation of the above quoted order.

Further, you are hereby informed that you have no legal and moral right to announce and conduct elections of the office bearers and the executive committee. Following the above quoted Order of the competent legal authority this right is reserved with Trustees registered in Schedule 1 of PTR under BPTA.

5. PUBLICATIONS OF NEWSLETTERS/ JOURNALS:
Please note that the honourable Assistant Charity Commissioner has rejected the claims of Professor Jameela Begum and Dr. Chandra Mohan as the Trustees of the Association and has informed in this Order that the office of the Association is located in the Department of English, M.S. University, Vadodara. Any operations carried out from any other office in India or abroad are legally invalid. You are hereby informed that the operations carried out by you from Delhi and Mysore are illegal. Hence, the issuance of the Newsletter in the name of Indian Association for Canadian Studies and publication of the Indian Journal of Canadian Studies is a violation of the above Order of the Assistant Charity Commissioner, Vadodara. You are therefore advised not to print, publish, or circulate these publications in future and to withdraw them if you have done so after 22 March 2006.

I hereby call upon you to:

Deposit all the minutes, agendas, and records of the Association including the files of correspondence with members and others in the name of the Association. As also correspondence regarding financial transactions, Agreements signed with government of Canada for receiving grants; FC-3 forms submitted to government of India; books of accounts, statements of accounts and auditor’s report; receipts, vouchers, invoices and other financial documents in the Registered Office at Baroda.

Send all the assessts including fax machines, computers, telephones etc. to the registered office of the Association at Baroda.

Deposit all the money from savings/ surpluses of earlier grants in the registered Savings Bank Account No. 5036 with Indian Bank, Fatehgunj, Vadodara and all the Membership fees (annual as well as life membership fees) be deposited in Savings Bank A/C No. 6376 of Indian Bank, Fatehgunj, Vadodara.

Not to print, publish, or circulate any publications including Newsletter, Indian Journal of Canadian Studies in future and to withdraw them if you have done so after 22 March 2006.
Not to call the Annual General Meeting of IACS.

Not to announce and or conduct any elections of the office bearers and executive Committee of IACS.

Not to use the official logo, letterhead, and name of Indian Association for Canadian Studies for any purpose without the permission of the trustees registered on Schedule 1 of PTR under BPTA.

Stop mentioning such offices as: Functioning Office, Editorial Office etc. because IACS has only one office and it is at Baroda and nowhere else.

Under the instructions and information of the client

(Ravindra M. Joshi)
Advocate

_______________________________
(Dr. Om P. Juneja)
Authorised Trustee, IACS


Vadodara:
Dated: 12 October 2006

Enclosure: one

CC: Vice Chancellor, University of Mysore, Mysore.
Head, Public Affairs, Canadian High Commission, New Delhi.

ILLEGALITY OF ACTIVITIES SINCE 1995

ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES SINCE 1995:

After four years of litigation by both the parties the Learned Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara has completely rejected the "Change Report" filed by Dr. Jameela Begum in 2002 and by Dr. Chandra Mohan in 1995. Following are the implications of this Order:

· No activities of IACS including the new constitution, the elections, the office-bearers, and members of the Executive Committee after 1994 are legal.
· The Trustees of IACS are the nine founding trustees including Dr. O. P. Juneja as the Authorised Trustee. Please refer to paragraph 7 of the judgement, which reads,
“Hence the Executive Committee which was recorded in 1986 still continues to be in existence.”
· The Change Report that was submitted by Dr. Chandra Mohan in 1995 and was “filed” by the Charity Commissioner in 1997 has now been rejected completely. Please refer to the following paragraph 9 of the judgement:
“Apart from this, after examining the affidavits filed by the Applicant and Dr. Chandra Mohan, the veracity of the above facts cannot be proved… Under these circumstances, this Change Report is not worthy of acceptance”.
· IACS cannot have any office outside Baroda as the registration of Indian Association for Canadian Studies Vadodara is in Gujarat and therefore for all operational purposes it is a Gujarat body. To have an all India registration it should have had seven trustees from seven different states of India at the time of registration.
· Only the initial trustees from Baroda can operate the academic, administrative, financial and any other activities IACS.
· There already exists a bank account of the initial body and all money in whichever account of the IACS needs to be deposited and transferred there.

IT IS ESTIMATED THAT IT HAS COST THREE LAKHS OF RUPEES TO IACS, WHILE Dr. O.P. JUNEJA HAS NOT BEEN RE-IMBURSED THE COST OF HIS LITIGATION.

EC HAS FILED AN APPEAL WHICH MAY ALSO COST ABOUT ONE LAKH.

PLEASE NOTE THAT NO GENERAL BODY MEETING WAS CALLED TO APPROVE THIS LITIGIOUS EXPENDITURE.

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES

CANADIAN LITERATURE JOURNAL

Very soon we are launching a Journal of Canadian Literature and Culture with the support of a Delhi based publishing house. It will be a refreed journal which will publish research on both English and French Canadian literatures and will also discuss Canadian culture with reference to multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious ethos and values. Papers comparing Canada and India of high research/ academic value in the spheres of literature and culture are welcome. Full research papers strictly following the latest MLA style and academic writing norms and procedures may be sent to the editors via email at: omjuneja@yahoo.com Editors will inform as soon as the paper has been reviewed. We regret to infrom you that no remunerations/ re-imbursements are possible at this stage.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CANADIAN STUDIES

We propose to host a national conference on Canadian Studies soon at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The date and theme of the conference will be announced soon.

CHANGES TO BE INCORPORATED IN IACS CONSTITUTION

It is proposed to incorporate the following changes in the Constitution of IACS:

1. All life members and not only those who attend the Annual General Body Meeting will vote to elect the Office-bearers.
2. No body will hold an office for more than two terms.

Your are welcome to suggest any other changes to Authorised Trustee at: omjuneja@gmail.com

You are also welcome to comment, suggest, criticise and update on any issue relating to IACS to us at: omjuneja@gmail.com

BACKGROUND TO CANADIAN LITERATURE

Professor Dennis Duffy and Professor Om P. Juneja are busy writing this book of history of Canadian Literature for a publishing company in Delhi. Your suggessions regarding the pedagogy of the academic material are welcome. We will soon put up the outline of the plan and contents of the book.

HELP TO RESEARCHERS

In order to augment the research on Canadian Studies in India, IACS proposes to prepare an inventory of researchers with their research topics/findings. Researchers/ teachers guiding research are welcome to join this group which will be published separately as a blog soon. In the meanwhile, please post the details of your research on this blog.

Aim of This Blog: Get Your Participation to Revive IACS

I have created this IACS Vadodara blog to invite you to participate in the process of establishing the role of General Body in taking decisions for restoring academic excellence and partipatory democracy in IACS. It is the General Body that comprises all the members that has to take vital decisions and not the Executive Committee as has been happening since 1995.

Secondly, this blog is meant to apprise you of the activities of the legally constituted and duly registered IACS Vadodara. It is a Public Trust registred with Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara and a Society registred with Registrar of Societies Vadodara with the name INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANADIAN STUDIES VADODARA. Following the Order passed on 22.3.2006 by the Assistant Charity Commissioner Vadodara, this is the only legal claimant to the name INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANADIAN STUDIES. Any other association with this name is illegal. The address of the registered office of IACS is as follows: Department of English, Faculty of Arts, M. S. University of Baroda, VADODARA 390002.

Thirdly, the blog will also provide links to other centres, associations, and agencies involved in the development of Canadian Studies in India and abroad. It will also provide updates on the seminars, conferences, fellowships and other academic events about Canadian Studies in India and abroad.

I threfore invite you to participate in this process and shall appreciate your comments, suggestions,observations and querries, if any.

PARTICIPATE AND REVIVE IACS.

Dr. Om Juneja Founding Director of Centre for Canadian Studies

Dr. Om P. Juneja, founding director, Centre for Canadian Studies and former Professor and Head, Department of English, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, is a recipient of the prestigious Fellowship of the Indian Institute of Advance Study, Shimla.

He has published three books and four dozen papers in learned journals and has guided eight Ph. D and twelve M. Phil theses/ dissertations in Canadian Studies.

As the founding Secretary of Indian Association for Canadian Studies, he got it affiliated to International Council for Canadian Studies in 1987. Under his Presidency, IACS grew from a membership of 85 to 600 with a four-fold increase in the grant from Government of Canada from $20,000 in 1987 to $80,000 in 1994.

He was elected the Member-at-large (Secretary-Treasurer) of International Council for Canadian Studies in 1992 and was honoured with the prestigious “Certificate of Merit” for his significant contributions to the development of Canadian Studies in India and abroad in 1994 by International Council for Canadian Studies. Indian Association for Canadian Studies honoured him with “Award of Merit” in 1996.

Currently, he is the UGC EMERITUS FELLOW (PROFESSOR) in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, M. S. University, Baroda working on his research on “Theorisation of the Indian Diaspora in North America in Network Society” and is the Authorised Trustee of Indian Association for Canadian Studies Vadodara.

Welcome to IACS Vadodara

Hi! Om Juneja welcomes you to IACS Vadodara. I want to share with you some important information related to IACS and also invite you to participate in the re-vitalisation of the Association.

This photo was taken by Professor Dennis Duffy, University of Toronto and a Life Member, IACS at a venue for taking up the oath of citizenship of Canada in Toronto in August 2005. I think this photo sets the stage for this experience of sharing information for re-vitalising IACS. You are welcome to exchange information, comments, suggestions and observations for restoring academic excellence and participatory democracy in IACS.