National Council of Social Service (Meetings) Regulations

The Council shall hold an annual general meeting once in every calendar year but in any case not more than 15 months after the holding of the last preceding annual general meeting

An annual general meeting shall be held for the following purposes:

Any Council member who intends to propose any resolution for consideration at an annual general meeting shall give written notice of the resolution to the Honorary General Secretary not later than 14 days before the meeting.

The Council shall hold an extraordinary general meeting on the receipt of a requisition in writing signed by not less than one-half of the total number of full Council members and specifying the purpose for which the meeting is required and the resolution proposed.

On receipt of a requisition referred to in paragraph (1), the Council shall, within 30 days from the date of the requisition, proceed to hold an extraordinary general meeting.

The Honorary General Secretary shall, not less than 7 days before the day appointed for a meeting of the Council, give to every Board member and Council member notice in writing of the meeting of the Council and such notice shall specify the matters to be considered at the meeting.

The notice under paragraph (1) may be given to a Board member or Council member (as the case may be) —

Service of the notice under paragraph (1) to a Board member or Council member (as the case may be) takes effect —

The President or, in his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents as determined by the Board shall preside at all meetings of the Council.

Where the President and both the Vice-Presidents are absent at a meeting, the Council members present shall elect one of the Board members to preside at the meeting.

The quorum for —

Despite paragraph (3), where the quorum referred to in that paragraph is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting, all full Council members present may form the quorum instead.

[Deleted by S 635/2015 wef 05/11/2015]

The quorum for an extraordinary general meeting under regulation 4 shall be one-half of the total number of full Council members.

Where the quorum referred to in paragraph (6) is not present at the time appointed for the extraordinary general meeting, the requisition for that meeting shall be annulled and the same, or substantially the same, resolution shall not be proposed at any other meeting during the same financial year of the Council.

Except for the election of Board members under section 5 of the Act, every question arising at any meeting of the Council shall be decided by a simple majority of the Board members and full Council members present and voting.

Subject to section 7 of the Act, each Board member and each full Council member present at a meeting of the Council shall have one vote, and in the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

The election of Board members shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedure:

If the Honorary General Secretary —

A nomination for the position of Vice-President to be elected under section 5 (1)(b)(i) of the Act shall be made by a full Council member and seconded by any other full Council member, and the election shall be by ballot and determined on the basis of the nominee with the highest number of votes obtained from the full Council members present and voting.

A nomination for the position of Board member to be elected under section 5(1)(g) of the Act shall be made by a full Council member and seconded by any other full Council member, and the election shall be by ballot and determined on the basis of the 8 nominees with the highest number of votes obtained from the full Council members present and voting.

A nomination for the position of Board member to be elected under section 5(1)(h) of the Act shall be made by an associate Council member and seconded by any other associate Council member, and the election shall be by ballot and determined on the basis of the 2 nominees with the highest number of votes obtained from the associate Council members present and voting.

For the nomination for each position specified in paragraph (2), (3) or (4) —

A person who has served on the Board for 3 consecutive terms as Vice-President under section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Act or as a Board member under section 5(1)(g) or (h) of the Act shall not immediately upon the expiration of his third term be eligible to be nominated for election to the Board, whether as Vice-President or Board member.

The Honorary General Secretary may refuse any nomination not made in compliance with paragraph (1)(b) or (c), (2), (3), (4) or (5).

For the purposes of this regulation —

In the event of an equality of votes in respect of the election of any person to the Board under this regulation, the person presiding at the annual general meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

The President shall, as far as practicable, ensure that the nominations for the posts of Vice-President under section 5(1)(b)(i) of the Act and the 8 Board members under section 5(1)(g) of the Act represent the various interests groups of the Council specified in the Schedule.

If the Honorary General Secretary is, by illness, leave of absence or other cause, prevented or unable to perform his or her duty under this regulation, the President may appoint one Board member from among the Board members referred to in section 5(1)(b)(ii), (d), (f), (i) and (j) of the Act to carry out the Honorary General Secretary’s duty under this regulation.

In this regulation —

The Board shall meet as often as the President may decide but it shall in any case meet at least once every 3 months.

For the purposes of paragraph (1), meetings may be convened, held or conducted, whether wholly or partly, by electronic means.

The Honorary General Secretary shall, not less than 3 days before the day appointed for a meeting of the Board, give to every Board member notice in writing of the meeting and such notice shall specify the matters to be considered at the meeting.

The notice under paragraph (1) may be given to a Board member —

Service of the notice under paragraph (1) to a Board member takes effect —

The President or, in his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents as determined by the Board shall preside at all meetings of the Board.

Where the President and both the Vice-Presidents are absent at a meeting, the Board members present shall elect one of their number to preside at the meeting.

At every meeting of the Board, 8 Board members shall form a quorum.

Every question at any meeting of the Board shall be decided by a simple majority of the Board members present and voting.

Subject to section 7 of the Act, each Board member present at a Board meeting shall have one vote, and in the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

Where the Board is required to pass a resolution urgently but it is not practicable to convene a meeting of the Board for that purpose, the President may send to all Board members a copy of the proposed resolution in writing by way of post, delivery or electronic communication, and the resolution may be assented to by the Board members in the manner provided in that document.

A resolution referred to in paragraph (1) which has been assented to by a simple majority of Board members entitled to vote at a meeting of the Board shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of the Board duly called and held.

The Community Chest shall meet as often as the Chairperson may decide but it shall in any case meet at least once every 3 months.

For the purposes of paragraph (1), meetings may be convened, held or conducted, whether wholly or partly, by electronic means.

The Secretary of the Community Chest shall, not less than 3 days before the day appointed for a meeting of the Community Chest, give to every member of the Community Chest a notice in writing of the meeting and such notice shall specify the matters to be considered at the meeting.

The notice under paragraph (1) may be given to a member of the Community Chest —

Service of the notice under paragraph (1) to a member of the Community Chest takes effect —

The Chairperson of the Community Chest or, in his absence, one of the Vice-Chairpersons shall preside at all meetings of the Community Chest.

The quorum at every meeting of the Community Chest shall be one-third of the total number of the members of the Community Chest appointed.

Every question at a meeting of the Community Chest shall be decided by a simple majority of the votes of the members of the Community Chest present and voting.

Each member of the Community Chest present at a meeting shall have one vote, and in the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a second or casting vote.

Where the Community Chest is required to pass a resolution urgently but it is not practicable to convene a meeting of the Community Chest for that purpose, the Chairperson may send to all members of the Community Chest a copy of the proposed resolution in writing by way of post, delivery or electronic communication, and the resolution may be assented to by the members of the Community Chest in the manner provided in that document.

A resolution referred to in paragraph (1) which has been assented to by a simple majority of the members of the Community Chest entitled to vote at a meeting of the Community Chest is as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of the Community Chest duly called and held.

The chairperson of such a committee shall cause proper minutes to be kept of the proceedings at all meetings of the committee, and such minutes shall be confirmed at the next meeting of that committee.

The chairperson of such a committee shall submit to the Board the minutes of all meetings of the committee and such other records as the Board may require, and in such manner and as often as the Board may determine.

Where a committee appointed under section 14(1) of the Act is required to pass a resolution urgently but it is not practicable to convene a meeting of the committee for that purpose, the chairperson of the committee may send to all members of the committee a copy of the proposed resolution in writing by way of post, delivery or electronic communication, and the resolution may be assented to by the members of the committee in the manner provided in that document.

A resolution referred to in paragraph (1) which has been assented to by a simple majority of the members of the committee entitled to vote at a meeting of the committee is as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of the committee duly called and held.