INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANADIAN STUDIES REVIVED

Indian Association for Canadian Studies has more than one thousand members from India, Canada, United States, and other countries. Established in 1985 by Professor Om Prakash Juneja and others at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, it is the largest Canadian Association among thirty such associations all over the world. It has created a sizable body of knowledge on issues common to India and Canada by building bridges of understanding between two countries during the last two decades by holding conferences, seminars, and workshops, exchange of teachers and students and publishing books. More recently, it was inactive because of a dispute regarding its trusteeship, which was settled by the Charity Commissioner in favour of the Founding Trustees from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda a few months ago.

The Association had its 24th Annual Conference at H. M. Patel Institute of English, Vallabh Vidyanagar 0n 10-11 April 2010. It elected its new office bearers with Professor Om Juneja as President, Professor Ranjana Harish as Vice President, Dr. Vimal Dhawan, as Secretary and Dr. Dinkar Nayak as Treasurer, while Dr. Alice Anugraham, Professor Adesh Pal and Dr. P. Selvam were elected as members of the Executive Committee.

Assuming the Presidency of the Association, Professor Juneja stated that with the revival of Indian Association for Canadian Studies after a period of three years, the hopes of its members are high, particularly because the relations between Canada and India are on upturn. There have been 11 Canadian ministerial visits to India over the past two and a half years, including five in the last year alone. Kamal Nath, India’s Commerce minister visited Canada recently and the Prime Minister of India is scheduled to visit Canada soon.

India’s emergence as a major global actor in the economic sphere, asserted Juneja, has attracted such companies as Bombardier to build metros in Delhi and other cities. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to India in November 2009 has resolved the nuclear issue between the two countries. Canada hosts the largest Indian Diaspora community of any Western country relative to the size of its overall population. This human bridge between India and Canada is the most solid foundation of the bilateral relationship, asserted Juneja who plans to study particularly the contribution of the Gujarati diaspora in Canada.

* Source: www.southasiamail.com for 15 April 2010 under Community News

IACS EC 2010-2013

ELECTED MEMBERS WITH ELECTION COMMITTEE

REPLY TO PABBY'S NOTICE

Dear Dr. Pabby,

I received your mail yesterday, as I was busy with the 24^th IACS Annual Conference at Vallabh Vidyanagar. The averment and submission made in your faxed letter and email are totally unjustified, improper, illegal, and one-sided and the language used by you is highly objectionable. You have distorted the facts to suite your convenience and have not taken the interest of the life members of the Association in consideration. The factual position of the application No. 15/2010 filed by you is as follows:

1. In your application you had prayed for –

a) To stay the operation of 24^th Conference

b) To stay the holding of the elections of IACS on 11 April 2010

c) To stay holding of the General Body Meeting on 11 April 2010

d) To appoint a Returning Officer for the EC Elections and an Observer to oversee elections on a reasonable date and at reasonable venue in the near future

e) To give other suitable relief as the Hon’ble Joint Charity Commissioner deems fit.

The Joint Charity Commissioner in his Order of 09/04/2010 (copy enclosed) has not allowed a stay on any of the operations that you had prayed for. He has not agreed to appoint a returning officer and observer to oversee election etc. So the question of staying the proceedings of the Conference, the Elections, and the General Body as you have stated in your letter does not arise. Your letter is therefore false, illegal and a deliberate misinterpretation of the Court Order.

2. It emerged from your application and deposition that you have prayed for staying the Election and the General Body Meeting of IACS in the name of Indian Association for Canadian Studies as if you were the Association. This is self contradictory because the Association cannot challenge the Elections and AGM that it has declared.

3. It emerged during the proceedings before the Joint Charity Commissioner that everybody agreed to accept the nominations filed pursuant to election notification dated 10/2/2010. The only understanding arrived at during the meeting arranged by Canadian High Commission in Delhi on 25/2/2010 was to change the dates of conference and election. Accordingly, the conference and the elections were rescheduled from 13-14 March to 10-11 April 2010. However, you still wish to challenge this action which in fact is a violation of the principle of Estoppel. It is a matter of regret that you could not obtain any court order against election/AGM. Despite this, you have chosen to send email as if you are the lawful authority to issue prohibitory order. This action of yours is nothing more than the contempt of the authority of the Joint Charity Commissioner.

4. In your mail, the name of V. D. Kaushik is mentioned. By giving his name in this mail, Professor Kaushik, like you have challenged this Order, which is surprising. Pursuant to the Election Notification of 10/2/2010 he had filed his nominations for elections, which he withdrew later. Dr. Krishna Kanta Kaushik, his wife also participated in the election process by contesting for the post of EC Member. It is surprising to note this contradiction because on the one hand, Dr. Kaushik has signed this letter asking to stay the election proceedings and on the other hand, he wishes to participate in the proceedings.
5. Please note that Dr. R. K. Dhawan, the Acting President and said “operating trustee” had also filed his nominations, which he withdrew a day before the election date. I may bring it to your attention that he has fully participated in the Conference, has chaired a session, and has attended the General Body Meeting held on 11/4/2010. Dr. Dhawan was pleased with the success of the Conference/ Election proceedings and Annual General Body Meeting which can be verified from the fact that he did not think it proper to raise any objection during the two day proceedings either orally or in writing.

6. Following the advice of the Joint Charity Commissioner that you have mentioned in your email, it would have been appropriate for you to come to Anand. To follow the court order in letter and spirit, it would have been fitting for you, like Dr. R. K. Dhawan to participate in the proceedings of the Conference, Elections, and AGM, which you have not done. You have thus not followed the spirit of the court order that calls upon both the parties to work in the interest of the Association.

7. You may be glad to know that more that 200 delegates from far away places like Coimbtore, Chinnai, Bangalore, Pune, Madurai, Warangal, Delhi, Orissa and Bhopal participated in the conference. There were others from nearby places like Baroda, Anand, Surat, Ahmedabad, Amreli and Rajkot also. All of them listened to 48 presentations, a panel discussion on Canadian Studies in India and a key note address from an industrialist who has an on going partnership with a Canadian company on the theme of “Building Bridges : Canada India Partnerships”.

As you know, now all the legal proceedings are over and there are no cases pending before any court. The three court orders no.468/02 of 22 March 2006, Final Order No. 38/06 of 28 August 2009 and the Order No. 15/2010 of 09 April 2010 have established the claims of the Founding trustees and the validity, legality and justification of the 24^th Annual Conference, Elections of the EC and the AGM. Therefore, you are called upon to submit all the records to the newly elected EC and transfer the sums of money in the illegal Bank Account that you have with State Bank of India, Delhi University South Campus, New Delhi to the legal Bank Account of Indian Association for Canadian Studies with Indian Bank, Fatehgunj Branch, Baroda. By doing so, you would follow the Order of the Joint Charity Commissioner passed on 09 April 2010 in letter and spirit that will help to revive the Association after a lapse of three years.

With this, I am sending the Minutes of the Election Committee Meeting announcing the results of the election held on 11 April 2010 and the photograph of the newly elected office bearers and EC members as attachments to this mail.

With regards,

Yours in IACS,

Om P. Juneja, President IACS.

Dr. Pabby's Notice To Stop Elections

DEAR PROFESSOR O.P. JUNEJA AND DR.J.K.DODIYA,
C/O, H. M PATEL INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH TRAINING AND RESEARCH,
VALLABH VIDYANAGAR 388120, GUJARAT.
THE JOINT CHARITY COMMISSIONER DELIVERED THE JUDJEMENT AT ABOUT 8:00 PM .ON OUR APPLICATION NO.15/2010 TODAY AND HE CALLED ALL OF US IN HIS COURT ROOM.YOU WERE REPRESENTED BY YOUR ADVOCATE MR. JOSHI AND
WE WERE PERSONALLY PRESENT. THE JT.C.C.,IN FRONT OF THE ADVOCATES ADVISED THAT BOTH THE PARTIES SHOULD SIT TOGETHER AND DECIDE ABOUT THE FUTURE COURSE OF ACTION IN THE INTEREST OF I.A.C.S.
ACCORDINGLY,BOTH OF YOU ARE REQESTED NOT TO CONDUCT THE ELECTION PROCESS AND GENERAL BODY MEETING OF THE I.A.C.S. ON 10/11 APRIL 2010 BECAUSE,YOU ARE NOT AUTHORISED TO CONDUCT THESE AS YOU ARE NOT IN
ADMINISTRATION OF THE I.A.C.S. AND YOU ARE NOT HAVING ANY OFFICIAL RECORD FOR THE ELECTION PROCESS.MOREOVER THE ELECTION CIRCULARS ISSUED BY YOU ARE NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONSTITUTION OF I.A.C.S.
THEREFORE,YOU ARE HEREBY RESTRAINED FROM TAKING LAW IN YOUR HANDS TO PROCEED FURTHER.EVEN THEN IF YOU WILL PROCEED WITHOUT OUR INSTRUCTIONS ,THE SO CALLED ELECTION SHALL NOT BIND THE INSTITUTION AS WELL AS US. WE HOPE YOUR ADVOCATE MUST HAVE INFORMED YOU ABOUT THE FEELINGS OF THE COURT.

DR. D.K. PABBY.
Dr. V.D.KAUSHIK