THE CONSTITUTION OF REPORTERS FOR RAIL AND ROAD

1. ORGANISATIONAL IDENTITY

This will be an organisation for professional reporters working on roads, railways, communications infrastructure and transport.

The name of the organisation will be – Reporters for Rail and Road.

It will have office in the capital.

The reporters, working at the Dhaka—based headquarters of the government-approved national daily newspapers, television channels, radio channels and registered online portals, will be members of the organisation only.

2.  ACTIVITIES

2A. This organisation will be a non-profit and non-political entity. This organisation will take initiatives for activities such as training, seminars, discussions, round tables, symposiums and meet-the-press to advance the professional standards of the members.

2B. This organisation will work to secure the professional interests of the reporters.

2C. This organisation must not take any type of action devoid of journalistic ethics and this organisation must not be used to serve anyone’s personal interests.

2D. Any kind of grant or token money from any institute or person must not be accepted for programmes such as picnic, family day and study tours in the name of organisational activities. Such contributions can be accepted for activities like training, seminars, discussions, round tables, symposiums and meet-the-press under joint initiatives in order to raise the professional skills of this organisation’s members. In that case, any kind of ‘conflict of interest’ must be taken into cognisance.

3. ELIGIBILITY FOR THE MEMBERSHIP

3A. Reporters with work experience in the areas of roads, railways, communications infrastructure and transport for two consecutive years can apply for the membership.

3B. Interested persons can apply for membership by obtaining the form from the organisation by paying the fixed fee. The applicant must submit two copies of his or her passport-size photos, the photocopy of the appointment letter, the identification card issued by the employer, the national ID card and the copies or links or CD of five byline stories published or broadcast in his/her media outlet. The reports/links/CDs will be used as proof of the experience mentioned in the Constitution’s section 3A.

3C. A three-member selection committee, headed by the organisation’s secretary, will recommend the application to the executive committee after evaluating the application. The two other members of the committee will be the office secretary and the first member of the executive committee.

The executive committee will decide on the membership based on a consensus or a majority opinion. The decision of the executive committee will be final in providing memberships.

3D. If more than one reporter from one media outlet applies for membership, the verification of the concerned media outlet must be submitted with the applications. This sub-section will not be applicable to the people who have already become members of this organisation.

3E. Membership of any member will be suspended if he/she does not work in the sectors for two continuous years or quit the journalism profession. If the member returns to the sectors or joins the profession, the executive committee can consider his/her application.

3F. Associate Members: Associate memberships can be given to the reporter who has one year’s experience in these sectors. They would have to submit the documents cited in section 3B. If the applicant keeps reporting on these sectors and his/her tenure of working in these sectors crosses two years, following his/her application, the executive committee can give him/her permanent membership. Before getting a permanent membership, an associate member can’t exercise his or her voting rights.

4. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

4A. An executive committee will be formed with a maximum of 11 permanent members in this organisation. The number of members of the executive committee can be increased or decreased through the amendment of the Constitution. Every two years, the executive committee members will be elected by the votes of the permanent members.

4B. The president or the general secretary of the executive committee can’t participate in the polls for the same positions for a second consecutive term.

4C. The size of the executive committee will be as below:

President – One person

Vice-President – One person

General Secretary – One person

Joint Secretary – One person

Organisational Secretary – One person

Treasurer/ Finance Secretary – One person

Office Secretary – One person

Training and Research Secretary – One person

Executive Members– Three persons

5.  TENURE OF THE COMMITTEE

5A. The tenure of the committee will be for two years. The tenure of the newly-elected committee will start from the date the committee takes over responsibility.

5B. The election must be held within 30 days before the tenure of the executive committee will be ended. The new committee will take over responsibility after the tenure of the previous committee comes to an end.

5C. If a member position becomes vacant following the death, removal or resignation of any executive committee member, then the position must be fulfilled immediately at the meeting of the executive committee.

5D. Following the death, removal or resignation of the president, the vice-president, the general secretary, the joint secretary, or any member holding the secretary position, the executive committee member will fill up the post successively.

6. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

6A. The executive committee will meet at least once every two months. The executive committee will take all decisions, including regarding the overall activities of this organisation and maintaining the fund.

6B. The president will be the head of the organisation. He/she will chair the meetings of the executive committee, the general meetings and the special general meetings. He/She will carry out the activities of this organisation following discussion with the executive committee members.

6C. With at least three days’ notice, the general secretary will call a meeting of executive committee after discussing the president. In urgent cases, urgent meetings can be convened with at least six hours’ notice. Scope for using digital platforms will be allowed in urgent meetings.

6D. In the absences of the president and the general secretary, the vice-president and the joint secretary will fill up the responsibilities, respectively.

6E. If the executive committee fails to call a meeting within six months, a summon meeting can be called following a written application submitted by the majority of the permanent members.

6F. In the executive committee meetings, the quorum will be secured by the presence of seven members. If the quorum can’t be ensured, meetings on the day will be postponed.

6I. Decisions will be taken on the basis of the consensus among the majority of the members. If the number of votes in favour of or against an issue is equal, the vote of the president will be considered as the casting vote.

7. POWER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

7A. The executive committee will take necessary steps to keep the aim of this organisation in front.

7B. The executive committee can form sub-committees, if needed, in the cases of organising any event or on any special occasion.

7C. Show-cause notice will be served to any executive committee member if he/she remains absent in three consecutive meetings of the executive committee without any acceptable reason. If the member remains absent in the fourth meeting, then his/her position in the executive committee will be suspended. The position will be dismissed if no satisfactory explanation is given.

8. CANCELATION OF MEMBERSHIP

8A. Membership of any member will be suspended or cancelled if any allegation of activities that go against the reputation, discipline or interest of this organisation rises against the member and is proven in the probe.

8B. Orders can be given to investigate and form investigation committees following the majority decision in the executive committee meeting, if an allegation on any matter or at any level comes to the notice of the executive committee. If the allegation is proven to be authentic, then the executive committee can suspend the membership of the member following the consensus among the majority of the members. But the accused member must be given the scope to defend himself or herself and must be served with show-cause notices. The accused member must submit a written statement on self-defence within 15 days. After the period, the executive committee will decide the next course of action. If the executive committee decides to cancel the membership, then the issue must be presented at the general/special general meeting and decision must be finalised following a consensus among the majority of the members.

8C. The rights to cast vote by any member will be suspended if he/she does not deposit the monthly organisational token money for a year.

9. RESIGNATION

9A. If any executive committee member or general member wants to resign, he/she must submit a signed resignation letter to the president. If the president wants to resign, he/she must submit a signed resignation letter to the vice-president or the general secretary.

9B. Decision on the resignation must be finalised at the meeting of the executive committee by calling a meeting within a maximum of 30 days from the submission of the resignation letter.

10. VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE AND SUMMON MEETING

10A. For a vote of no-confidence and calling summon meeting against the president or the general secretary or any members of the executive committee, an application with signatures of at least two-thirds of permanent members must be submitted to the president or the general secretary.

10B. Within 15 days from the submission of the application, a special general meeting must be called in where a decision must be taken based on at least two-thirds of members’ opinions.

11. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

11A. After one year of the tenure of the executive committee, an annual general meeting will be held. If the executive committee thinks it necessary, the committee can call the special general meeting too.

For calling a general or special meeting, a notice must be issued at least seven days before the meeting date. At the annual general meeting, the general secretary will present the annual report and the finance secretary will present the annual financial report.

12. ELECTION

12A. A three-member election committee will be formed by making a senior and equally acceptable journalist or an equally acceptable leader of any journalist organisation as the head of the election committee. Two members who will not contest in the same election can be made two members of the election committee. If the executive committee wants, it can take a senior and equally acceptable journalist or an equally acceptable leader of any journalist organisation as one of the two members of the election committee. In the election committee, there must be a member from this organisation. The executive committee will select the member of the election conduction committee based on a consensus of the majority.

12B. The executive committee will assist the election committee in all tasks to conduct the polls. The election will be held using the secret ballot system following democratic procedure.

12C. The executive committee president will chair the working sessions of the annual general meeting. After the annual general meeting, the president will hand over the responsibility of running the general meeting to the head of the election committee for holding the election. After the announcement of the election results, the head of the election committee will hand over the responsibilities to the executive committee president. The president will announce the closing of the general meeting.

12D. The members of the executive committee and the general members can deliver speeches at the annual general meetings.

12E. The annual general meeting must require the presence of at least two-thirds of the total members of this organisation to reach the quorum.

13. FUND

13A. To get the membership, every member must pay a one-time fixed amount fee.

13B. The members of the organisation must pay a monthly token money.

13C. The executive committee will fix the rates of the one-time fee and the monthly token money.

13D. This organisation will have a fund. The fund’s bank account will be operated by the joint signatures of the president, the general secretary and the finance secretary. The transactions will be carried out by the signatures of the finance secretary and the president/the general secretary.

13E. The finance secretary will preserve the fund’s account

13F. Without the permission of the executive committee, the president, the general secretary and the finance secretary can’t keep more than Tk 10,000 (Ten Thousand Taka) in cash at any given time.

14. AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION

14A. Any amendment, inclusion and change can be made to the Constitution following consensus among the two-thirds of the total permannent members of this organisation at the general or special general meeting. Amendment notice must be submitted to the president/the general secretary at least 15 days before the general meeting. The president/the general secretary will present this amendment notice at the executive committee meeting.

15. LANGUAGE OF THE CONSTITUTION

The constitution of this organisation will be written both in Bangla and English languages. In the case of any debate regarding the language-related explanation, the Bangla language will prevail.

16. ANNOUNCEMENT OF ABOLISHING THIS ORGANISATION

For any special reason, at least 80 per cent of members of this organisation can apply for the abolishment of this organisation. Within 15 days of the submission of the application, the president/the general secretary will call a special general meeting. At the meeting, based on the consensus of at least 80 per cent of members of this organisation, the organisation can be abolished.

** The End  **