GJCC Byelaws

THE KERALA HIGH COURT ADVOCATES’ ASSOCIATION GOLDEN JUBILEE CHAMBER COMPLEX ALLOTMENT & MANAGEMENT  BYELAWS, 2010

These Byelaws  are made in exercise of the powers conferred by Clauses 13(i), (vi) and (viii) of the Rules and Regulations, 1971 of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association to control and administer the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex.

1.   Short Title :- These Byelaws may be called the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex Allotment & Management Byelaws, 2010 (KHCAA-GJCCA & M Byelaws 2010) in short.

2.   Definition:-

• “Association” means the Kerala High Court Advocate’s Association

• “Applicant Member” means a member who is rank listed for allotment of the chamber or cellar car parking slot,            on the basis of the application submitted by him.

• “Allottee Member” means any member of the Association to whom chamber or a cellar car parking slot is                      allotted in the Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex or any other building, constructed for similar purposes, in                future.

• “Chamber” means a Chamber in the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex.

• “Chamber Complex” means the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex,              including the individual chamber, common area, cellar car parking and the area appurtenant to the chamber              complex.
• “Board” means the Board of Governors constituted as per clause 3 of this Byelaw.

• “Car Parking Slot” means a specific area earmarked with dimensions in the cellar floor of the Chamber Complex          intended for parking cars or other personal vehicles of the Allottee.

• “Legal heir” means son/ daughter/ wife/ husband/ son in law/ daughter in law/ mother /and father or grand                  son/  grand daughter 
• “Member” means any individual advocate enrolled as a member of the Kerala High Court Advocates’                              Association.
• “Year” means the calendar year from the date to date. All days above 180 days will be treated as one completed      year and less than 180 days will be ignored for the purpose of allotment
•  “His” includes her.
  
  

3.   Constitution of Board of Governors:

       1). There shall be a Board of Governors consisting of 17 members to control and administer the Chamber Complex                        including its day to day functions.

            The said Board shall consist of :-

                 (i) President, 2 Vice Presidents, Secretary, Joint Secretary and Treasurer of the Association as official members.

                (ii) One member each elected/selected/nominated by the Allottees of every floor. This category will contribute 9                                 members, i.e., one member from each floor as the Complex has 9 floors at present

                (iii) One member shall be selected/elected from among the lady Allottee members

                (iv) One member shall be elected from among the Allottee members, who are the designated senior advocates in                                the High Court of Kerala.

       2). The President and the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Association shall be the Chairman and                                     Secretary of the Board of Governors respectively.

       3). The term of office of the Board shall be one year which shall be co-terminus  with the term of the office of the                                 Managing Committee of the Association. The quorum of the committee shall be 9. The Board shall be re-                                       constituted every year within two weeks from the date of assumption of office of the Executive Committee of                                 the Association every year.

       4). The Board of Governors shall meet from time to time to transact the business entrusted with them and to                                       consider such matters as are necessary for the efficient working of the Chamber complex. Such meetings shall                             be held atleast once in every calendar month. The Secretary of the Board of Governors shall convene the said                             meeting. The Secretary shall convene the meeting on the written requisition of 4 or more members of the                                     board of governors, with in 5 days of the receipt of such requisition.  

  4.   Eligibility for allotment in the Chamber:- 

• An Advocate in the rolls of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association as on the date of his application is entitled to apply for allotment. The application shall be in Form No. I issued by the Association on payment of Rs. 50/- (non-refundable) towards fee for the application form and the same shall be submitted along with an processing fee of Rs. 500/- payable to the Secretary, KHCAA, within the time prescribed by the Association, from time to time.

• The allotment of Chamber in the chamber complex shall be strictly in accordance with a fair selection process. An applicant is not entitled for the allotment, as a matter of right, but only in accordance with his eligibility and satisfaction of the selection criteria.

• A member, who fails to get allotment in the chamber complex at the first allotment after his application, can at his option, either continue in the rank list of the applicant members and shall wait for his turn or seek cancellation of his allotment in writing. In the event of withdrawal or cancellation of application, the applicant member shall not be entitled for refund of application fee. On acceptance of the application in writing for withdrawing the allotment, such member shall cease to be an applicant member and shall not be entitled to re-apply for allotment for a period of one year from the date of acceptance of the withdrawal. If the decision of the Board of Governors upon application for withdrawal is not intimated to the applicant in writing within 30 days from the date of receipt of such Application, the applicant shall remind the same to the Board and on expiry of 30, further days from any such reminder, the application is deemed to be accepted. 

 

 5.   Selection Committee:- There shall be a Selection Committee consisting of 5 members to supervise the selection process for allotment. The Board of Governors shall nominate 4 members of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association, having a minimum practice of 10 years, who shall constitute the selection committee. One of the selection committee members shall be a designated senior advocate of the Kerala High Court and a Life Member of the Association. The Secretary of the Association shall be the fifth member of the said Selection Committee in his official capacity as the office bearer of the Association. The term of the Office of the selection committee shall be one year, which shall be co-terminus with the term of board of governors. 

6.   Duties of the Selection Committee:- The Selection Committee has the following duties .The selection committee shall prepare a select  list of applicant members from among the eligible members of the  Association, on the basis of the applications submitted as on the date of selection, and such list shall be followed by the Association for the allotment of Chamber as well as Car Parking Slot. The selection and allotment of Chambers shall be finalized every year on or before 31^st of March every year.

7.   Selection of Allottee Members:- 

• The Selection Committee shall prepare a rank list of the applicant members, on the basis of the preferential criteria for getting the eligibility to get the allotment of Chamber and Car Parking from among the applicants, as on the date of consideration.

• For getting the preference, among applicants, a member should have filed vakalath in at least 10 numbers of cases in the High Court of Kerala during the previous year to the date of declaration of the vacancy for allotment. For this purpose the computer data entry in the data bank of the High Court of Kerala shall be treated as evidence.  In the case of  Government Pleaders serving in the High Court of Kerala, the memo filed by him from the Office of the Advocate General will be treated as equivalent to a vakalath.

        Explanation:-Member who fulfills the condition in Rule 7(2) will be assigned 10 points and for additional 10                                    vakalaths one point each and a  maximum of 20 points.(5 and above will be treated as 10 and less than 5 will be                          ignored).

• Member with more number of years of practice will be preferred, for allotment. Date of enrolment in the Bar Council of Kerala will be treated as the date of commencement of the practice.  Practice in the High Court will be counted from the date of joining as a member of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association.

        Explanation:–

        (1)  Member with 3 years of practice will be entitled to 10 points and for additional years of practice one point                                      each for every  completed year of practice.

         (2)  An additional 0.5 point will be given to every year of practice as a member of the Kerala High Court                                                Advocates’ Association.

• The Selection Committee shall prepare a rank list assigning points in terms of the above guide lines. If the points obtained by two or more members are equal and the availability of chamber is less than the number of applicant members, the preference shall be given to the member, eldest in age.

• If husband, wife, daughters, sons, daughter-in-law or son-in-law  in a family of Advocates apply for allotment individually, they will not be entitled for separate allotment of the chambers unless the Association is satisfied that they are practicing independently. The decision of the Board in this regard shall be final and shall not be questioned before any court of law.

• If the Association decides to construct any different types/categories of chambers or cubicles for any section of the members having particular years of practice their selection shall also be following the criteria in Rule 7 and a separate rank list shall be prepared from among the applicants in that category. But a member shall be entitled to allotment only under one category of his choice.

• After the scrutiny of the application for allotment by the Selection Committee and if the Association feels that there is necessity of treating any section of the bar as a separate class in the matter of allotment, after publication of such uniform criteria, the Association can make the allotment based on such uniform criteria.

 

8.   Value of the Chamber:-

• The Association, in consultation with the Board of Governors shall decide the value of the Chamber/Car Parking available and the allotment shall be made to the applicant member, after collecting such value fixed, strictly, in accordance with his order in the rank list.

• The value is to be paid as per the schedule fixed by the Association. If value is not paid within the schedule, time and date, the Association shall be free to cancel the allotment, with a written notice to the defaultedAllottee. On the expiry of the period stipulated in such notice for payment, the Association is at liberty to allot the chamber to the next applicant in the rank list.

• After the allotment, the Allottee member shall enter into an agreement in Form-II with the Association. The Association shall also issue a certificate of allotment in Form-III with photograph of the Allottee, while handing over the chamber/car parking, which shall be displayed by him, in his chamber/car parking area, in a conspicuous place available for inspection of the duly authorized person. 

 

9.   Rights, Surrender and forfeiture:- 

• The right, title and possession of the chambers/car parking and its premises shall always vest with the Association. The right conferred to the Allottees shall only be a permission to occupy and use as per the terms and conditions in the agreement between the Association and the Allottee member.  Notwithstanding any terms in such agreement, the Allottee members shall be bound by the amendment/s, if any made, from time to time, to this Byelaws and all the stipulations in this Byelaws, also form part of the agreement.

• The Allottee members shall not be entitled to transfer in any manner the rights granted to him over the chamber/car parking or make any structural or other alterations or join together of any two or more chambers/car parkings. In the event of such transfer or any such alterations, the Association shall be entitled to cancel the allotment, on the advice of the Board of Governors and shall remove the Allottee member from the chamber/car parking. In the matter of such removal, the allottee members shall be issued with a show cause notice in writing by the Secretary of the Association and recommendation shall be made on the issue by the Board of Governors after giving all reasonable opportunity to the member, of being heard. Such recommendation of the Board of Governors shall be placed before the Executive Committee of the Association within 7 days of the conclusion of its proceedings for its final decision.  The decision of the Executive Committee in this regard shall be made at the earliest and the same shall be final. The Allottee member whose permission is so terminated shall be entitled for return of the deposited amount, only after necessary deductions and expenses incurred by the Association for conversion of structure in its original form or for repair of the same to restore the Chamber to its original form

• The allottee who is surrendering the Chamber/ Car parking is entitled for an additional amount if the reallotment value is higher than the surrender value and in such case such additional amount payable shall not be less than 90% of the differential value. The remaining 10% of the differential value shall be kept in the account maintained for the chamber maintenance and shall utilized for the day today maintenance of the chamber only.

• Common amenities charges are payable to the Association for a minimum period of 3/6 months together. On surrender of the chamber, the allottee members shall pay an amount equal to 3 months amenities charges of the average 3 months immediately preceding month taken as an average.

• In the event of death or cessation of practice of an Allottee member, in the absence of the nomination in writing if his/her legal heir, who is in the profession and is a member of the Association shall be entitled to get allotted the same chamber/car parking. In case of any dispute with respect to the entitlement  of a member for re-allotment as per this clause the same shall be directed to the board of Governors for appropriate decision. The decision of the board of Governors shall be final in this regard.

        Provided  that an allottee member may nominate one of his eligible  legal heir as defined in clause 2(viii) in this                            byelaw for the purpose of allottee his chamber/ car parking in the event of his death/ cessation of practice

• The Allottee member shall strictly follow the stipulations in this Byelaws, directions and circulars issued by the Association and the Board of Governors, from time to time and all such directions, circulars and provisions in Byelaw, in force, shall deem to be form part of the agreement. Any violation of any of the same will lead to termination the Allotment. The termination proceedings shall be the same which is mentioned under clause 9(2). 

 

10. Maintenance: The day to day and timely maintenance and repairs in the chamber complex shall be conducted by the Association, on the basis of the recommendations and proposals of the Board of Governors. The Allottee members shall be bound to give the proportionate contribution recommended by the Board of Governors and accepted by the Executive Committee of the Association for maintenance, staff salary, taxes, statutory charges, repair charges, corpus fund etc., from time to time. For this purpose the Board of Governors shall be entitled to decide the amount of contribution from each Allottee.  Such decision shall be binding on the allottees and non-compliance of any such decision shall be a reason for termination of the allotment granted to an Allottee. All amounts received from the Chamber Complex shall be first utilized for the day to day management, administration and maintenance of the chamber complex.

 

11. Payment :-All payments to the Association on account of the Chamber Complex including security value, fees, deposits, maintenance charges, donations, grants etc., shall be paid only by account payee cheques or Demand Draft drawn to specific account/s maintained at the bank or banks, as decided by the Association, from time to time. The Association shall maintain separate bank account/s for the Chamber Complex.   The Association shall maintain a separate account for the accounting the receipts and disbursement in connection with maintenance of chamber complex and the Association may receive the maintenance charge either in cash or in cheque or demand draft drawn to the specific account, from the allottee members.

 

12. Amendment:- The Association in consultation with the Board of Governors, shall have the power to propose any amendment, modification or alteration to this Byelaws and such amendment, modification or alteration shall be in force only on approval by the General Body of the Association, in a meeting convened for that purpose with 15 days prior notice along with copy of the proposal for amendment, modification or alteration duly published. No amendment, modification or alteration in this Byelaw shall take to effect unless the majority of members present in the General Body approve such amendment, modification or alteration and the same shall come into force on the same day  or on the day appointed as suggested by the General Body.

13.   General Conditions

1.   Each and Every Allottee shall maintain high integrity, decency and ethics of the noble legal profession, while enjoying the privilege as an allottee.

2.   The Allottees are permitted to carry out activities of the legal profession alone in the chamber and any other activities are strictly

3.   The Allotees shall not use any advertisement boards in the chamber complex or in front of their respective chambers, except a name board containing the name of the respective Allottee having the size (45 x 15 cm) or such other size prescribed by the Board of Governors and such name board shall be affixed in the top of the door frame of their respective chamber, in a uniform manner.

4.   All the Allottee shall ensure the Chamber Complex clean, environmental friendly and litter free .

5.   Any complaint or grievance with respect to any act or deeds, which is undesirable, from the part of the Allottee, shall be submitted to the Board of Governors and the Board of Governors shall take appropriate steps in accordance with law, to ventilate such grievances. Any such complaint shall be addressed to the Secretary, KHCAA who shall place the same before the Board of Governors or a committee constituted among them for the said purpose.

6.   Any common places including corridors between the chambers shall not be occupied/ utilized for any individual purpose

7.   Consumption of alcohol is strictly prohibited inside the chamber complex.

8.   Smoking is prohibited in the common places of the chamber complex.

 

14.   Appellate Authority:- The General body of the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association may constitute an Appellate   Authority with appropriate powers to redress the grievances of the allottee members and to decide the appeal filed by an   allottee member against the decision of the Board of Governors or the Executive committee, in appropriate cases with       respect to the matters connected with allotement and management of the Golden Jubilee Chamber Complex and             decision of such  Appellate Authority shall be final and binding parties

15.   User Agreements :-The user rights of the occupants of the commercial space available in the Chamber complex will          be governed by the terms of such user, agreements made by the Executive Committee with such

16. Arbitration:- In the matter of any dispute regarding application, allotment, termination or the forfeiture of the                       allotment  or any other dispute between a member/allotee and the Association and among the Allottee members with         respect to the allotment, use or any other matter, directly and indirectly touching the chamber complex, it shall be               referred to the Board of Governors and the Board of Governors shall refer the same to arbitration by an arbitral                   tribunal  consisting of two designated Senior Advocates nominated by the Executive Committee for the said purpose-         if  there arises any difference of opinion among them,  a presiding arbitrator shall be appointed by the said two                     arbitrators, who shall be invariably be, a retired Judicial Officer, not below the rank of a District Judge.   And the                   majority award shall be final and binding on the parties. However, it shall be desirable for the Board of Governors as           well as the Association to attempt for conciliation of such disputes before referring it for arbitration, through advocates         appointed as conciliator(s).

17.    Saving:– Notwithstanding any thing contained in these Bye laws, all or any action/s taken or decided regarding the            allotment and management of the Chamber Complex, before coming into force of these bye laws, shall be deemed            to be valid and to have been taken/ decided under these byelaws.