OROP :MINUTES OF A MEETING OF AD HOC COMMITTEE IESM

SOURCE: IESM

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF AD HOC COMMITTEE IESM
HELD FROM 1100H TO 1300H ON THURSDAY, 06 July 2017
AT IESM OFFICE GURGAON

1.     The meeting of Ad Hoc Committee of IESM, for holding IESM elections, was held from 1100h to 1300h on Thursday, 06 July 2017 at IESM office Gurgaon.

2.    In spite of timely notice sent to all members and reminders on WhatsApp and mobile phone, following members were present for the meeting at 1100 hrs:

A.   Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM.             9312404269.

B.    Maj Gen PK Renjen, AVSM.             9810044542.

C.    Col KK Malhotra.                            9811552570.

D.   Wg Cdr CK Sharma.                       9811424933.

E.    Hony Lt K Pandey.                          9811059825.

F.    Brig CS Kamboj, VSM, Coordinator. 9810856441.

3.    After commencement of the meeting, it was adjourned for 30 minutes to wait for other members to come. The meeting restarted after waiting for 30 minutes. None of the missing members joined till the end of the meeting.

4.    Besides three members who are currently abroad and two members who are located in Pune, the following members, who should have attended the meeting were not present, nor they cared to inform the Coordinator beforehand of their likely absence –

A.   Col Kirit Joshipura.

B.    Hony Capt Nagender Singh.

C.    Hony Capt Jagbir Singh.

D.   Hony Capt Bhim Singh.

E.    Hony Capt Balwan Singh.

F.    Hony Sub Maj Mohinder Singh.

G.   Ris Om Prakash Ahlawat.

I wonder whether some members of the Committee think that it is the responsibility of the Coordinator of the Ad hoc Committee only, to conduct the IESM elections as ordered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court!

5.    The Coordinator informed all members present in the  meeting that since 03 Jun 17, when the first meeting of the Ad hoc Committee was  held, he was in constant touch with all members of the Committee about the urgency of holding a meeting of the Ad hoc Committee; they all were fully aware of it. He was making all possible efforts to find volunteers for conducting elections of IESM Governing Body and kept them all informed about it.

He had informed members that as soon as sufficient volunteers become available, a meeting of the Ad hoc committee will be held.

6.    Vide an email on 02 Jul 17, he had informed all members that sufficient number of volunteers were now available and data was being compiled by him so that Ad hoc Committee members would find it easy to do selection of the suitable volunteers.

On 03 Jul 17, a well compiled list of volunteers, in tabular form, was forwarded to all members by email. The names of some of the volunteers, who had not submitted required data, were just listed separately in the same email. In addition all members were informed by WhatsApp message and requested to see their email box.

7.    On 04 Jul 17, again an email was sent to all members, informing them about the Ad hoc Committee meeting to be held at 1100 hrs, on 06 Jul 17, at IESM HQ Gurgaon.

The email was sent with software option to get confirmation about emails’ delivery to the email addresses; delivery receipt from all the addressees was received and is available as proof.

In addition the Coordinator also sent a WhatsApp message to all members requesting them to look up their email.

8.    It has been general practice that members of the IESM Governing Body, who are not available on email, were informed about all meetings to be held by Hony Capt Jagbir Singh and Hony Capt Nagender Singh.

None of the members, who are absent today for the meeting, cared to inform the Coordinator that they would not be attending the meeting.

9.    To further ensure maximum presence during the Ad hoc Committee meeting, in early morning of 06 July 17, the Coordinator rang up Hony Capt Jagbir Singh, Hony Capt Nagender Singh and all members who do not have email ID, to remind them to be present for the meeting at 1100 hrs at the IESM HQ Gurgaon.
Each one of them, without any exception, stated some reasons for their inability to attend; yet they were requested to make sincere efforts to be present for the meeting, even if they could join the meeting late.

10.   The Coordinator stated that if the members who have not come for meeting today, had informed the Coordinator about their problems, another date for the meeting could have been fixed.

11.  During the very first meeting of the Ad hoc Committee, the Coordinator had made an appeal that the Ad hoc Committee has a difficult task ahead of holding the IESM Governing Body elections at the earliest. Therefore, all members must cooperate and should be available for all future meetings in time.

12. After conveying his deep disappointment about large number of members being absent from the meeting, the Coordinator proceeded with agenda points of the meeting.

The following points were informed /explained /discussed during the meeting:-

13. The Coordinator suggested that Ad hoc Committee should first discuss the various suggestions received from IESM members from all over the country, regarding method of holding the elections.

The Coordinator very much appreciated the aim of the suggestions received.  Very rightly the main aim of all suggestion received was to ensure maximum participation of IESM members in election of the new Governing Body.

The following suggestions about the method of holding IESM elections  emerged and were discussed –

A.   Elections should be held by postal ballot papers.

B.    Elections should be held by e-voting.

C.    Elections should be held at large number of stations spread in various states having large number of IESM members.

D.   Elections should be held using mobile phones.

E.    A combination of the above methods of voting.

F.    Elections to be held by ballot paper by members coming to Noida.

14. After deliberate discussions on the above methods of holding IESM elections and statistics very kindly provided by Gen Satbir Singh and Wg Cdr CK Sharma, the following points  emerged-

A.      Elections by postal ballot papers.
The following points emerged -

                                          i.    Number of members of IESM as on 01 Jul 17-

a)    Direct 28,400.

b)   Associate Members 7,232; these belong to 25 ESM Associations and have voting rights 2 per association – total 50.

c)    Total postal addresses to be handled – 28,450.

d)   Time required by Ad hoc Committee to plan, prepare and discuss drafts of 6 ballot papers
(Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary General, Additional Secy Gen and 16 other Governing Body members’ vacancies. Depending on the number of candidate, the ballot paper for vacancy of 16 members may be more than a foot long)
 (very conservative estimate) –                     7 days.

(please keep in mind that it takes days of effort to call a meeting of Ad hoc Committee)

e)   Printing the above –                                      4 days.

f)    Preparing envelopes and posting after hiring 8 to 10 persons –                                                    10 days.

g)   Total days required to implement above –      21 days.

h)   Load on IESM Office Gurgaon can be reduced to some extent if the state conveners share the load but the total time required will be only marginally affected.

i)     During last elections 30 to 35% of letters of AGM/ election notice sent to the members bounced back.

j)    Of course, be assured, notice of AGM / elections along with the candidate nomination form will be sent all IESM members.

k)   Postal cost is no criteria for this essential requirement.

B.    Elections by e-voting.
The following points emerged -

                                          i.    As on date only 5,583 IESM members’ email address is available with IESM HQ.

                                        ii.    Due to the members not keeping IESM HQ informed of the change of their email ID or email boxes being full etc, as on date, every time an email is sent to the members, 794 emails are bouncing back.

                                       iii.    Effective email addresses 5583- 794= 4789

                                       iv.    Effective percentage of IESM members available to make use of the e-voting system = 16.8%

C.  Elections should be held at large number of stations spread in various states having large number of IESM members.

The following points emerged -

                                          i.    Just to find volunteers for holding elections at Noida, the Coordinator had to hunt and beg around among ESM.

Besides the members of the Ad hoc Committee, the only other ESM who helped the Coordinator in finding volunteers to hold elections at Noida, are Col SS Rajan, Bengaluru and Col VK Sekhri at Noida; the Coordinator is grateful to both them.

                                        ii.    If we count stations where fairly large numbers of IESM are located, the number will far exceed 10.

                                       iii.    While the Coordinator of Ad hoc committee is flooded with suggestions about how to hold elections of IESM, no one is coming forward to help The Coordinator in the election process.

                                       iv.    If we take the attitude of ESM advisors as they responded for helping in elections at Noida, it may take quite a few months to be ready to hold the IESM elections at 10 or more stations. Of course there are devoted soldiers like Col SS Rajan, Bengaluru, Col TN Raman, Chennai and a few others in Maharashtra, Uttra Khand, Uttar Pradesh and Tricity etc, who will work day and night to find volunteers and create infrastructure for elections to be held in their cities; but how many more are there to match the above mentioned ESM in their impartiality, sincerity, efficiency and devotion to ESM welfare. To find volunteers and create infra structure to hold elections at 10 or more stations will take Ad hoc Committee and State Conveners few months.

                                        v.    Further, while we will certainly have full faith in the honesty and sincerity of the Chief Election officers and Returning Officers appointed at various stations, there is an essential legal requirement, at each election site, of having at least one representative of each candidate standing for election, one representative of the Ad hoc Committee and one representative of the District Registrar of Firms and Societies, Gurgaon.

The Ad hoc Committee cannot possibly manage that unless the dates of elections are sufficiently staggered; The Registrar may also not agree to send his reps at various stations unless for them we make ‘Five Star’ arrangements at all elections sites.

                                       vi.    If we hold elections at few places in addition to Noida, there will be strong objection by IESM members from the stations, where the Ad hoc Committee cannot find volunteers to organize elections. The possibility of one or more ESM going to court, on the pretext that they been denied their right to vote while others had been given the chance, cannot be ruled out. If such a case is filed - Ad hoc Committee will surely lose the case.
In the past IESM elections have been held, by ballot paper method, at one station only.

D.  Elections should be held using mobile phones.

The following points emerged -

                                          i.    It is true that large number of institutions and corporate offices hold elections and vote on other matters using smart phones, but when this is done for the first time in any organization, it requires months of preparations.

                                        ii.    This will require intricate software to ensure that only legitimate members of IESM have cast their vote and that that not proxy/double voting is not done from any phone

                                       iii.    If we want to hold elections at the earliest, before some hawks waiting to destroy IESM go to court and are successful to stall the elections, we cannot have the luxury of waiting for months to hold elections.

15. Subsequent to above facts and figures and deliberate discussions on each issue, the following issues and suggestions emerged, which were unanimously accepted  by all members of Ad hoc Committee present –

A.   All the members of Ad hoc Committee present, deeply appreciated the email discussions going on among IESM members, regarding holding the forthcoming elections in the best possible manner and giving chance to maximum number of members of IESM to exercise their right to decision making in IESM.

B.    Work on all the above suggested methods of holding elections was considered and action initiated by the IESM Governing Body in 2012. However, it could not be progressed because of major efforts being diverted to OROP agitation at Jantar Mantar and other cities in India and preoccupation of the Governing Body Executives with certain court cases thrust upon IESM.

C.    The Coordinator made a commitment that all the above suggestions of having elections will be brought to the notice of the newly elected Governing Body.
They would be requested to examine and pursue these, as we tried to do the same in 2012.
A still better option would be that these options be discussed during the AGM on 27 Aug 17, and decision taken for next election.

D.   There are large number of ESM organization in India, which came into existence much before IESM was raised at Noida, in 2008.

(The main credit for raising of IESM in 2008 at Noida goes to
Col SS Rajan of Bengaluru).

All these ESM organizations have been doing and are currently doing, excellent work for the welfare of the ESM and families.

But few organizations, which understood the most important issues of welfare of ESM and their families at the All India level are  –

                                          i.    DIWAVE for war wounded and disabled persons – headed by Col HN Handa.

                                        ii.    RDOA for Rank Pay Case of Officers, headed by
Col BK Sharma.

                                       iii.    Teams organized by Maj Navdeep Singh, who had full confidence of the Defence Minister and has earned ten Commendations Cards from the Army and Air Force.

                                       iv.    IESM – educated the entire ESM community and the entire Indian nation about OROP.

The ‘Powerful Rallies’ organized by IESM at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi and country wide, woke up the media and shook up successive Central Governments and obtained strong support from many State Governments.

The so called OROP presently granted by the Government has been very unfair to JCOs, OR, families and some specific rank officers of All Three Services. The OROP granted by the Government is not the OROP defined and approved by the two successive Governments and the Indian Parliament.

Of around Rs 8,300 crore accepted and announced by the Government for grant of OROP, it is estimated that over
Rs 2,000 crore is yet to be granted as OROP amount; unfortunately this cut has mainly affected the pension of JCOs, OR and their families; a very sad state!!!

Don’t go by the statements what political leaders are making.

(It is important that we all must know that “The Doyen” of OROP movement. He is Col Inderjit Singh, Chairman All India Ex-Services Welfare Association. It is he, who first approached the Government of India on the issue of OROP. It is Col Inderjit Singh, who on 22 Feb 1982, sat on first ever hunger strike at India Gate for OROP.
Since then he has been fighting for OROP with various PMs and RMs. Unfortunately for all of us, every time that he almost succeeded - the Governments changed.)

                                        v.    All IESM members should kindly appreciate that while it is their right, beyond any doubt, to exercise their vote in the decision making process, in particular the selection of Executives and Members of IESM Governing Body, but Dear Members at the moment more important is that IESM must be put on the right path at the earliest.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given a just, most deserving and excellent opportunity to achieve this aim.

The members of IESM should kindly permit the elections to be held at Noida by ballot paper. Infrastructure to do it is already in place after major struggle.

                                       vi.    So the Ad hoc Committee members unanimously agreed that exactly as in 2010 and 2012, the IESM Governing Body elections and AGM be held at AVCC, Noida
on 27 Aug 2017.

16. After the discussions on the method of elections, finalizing the location and date, the Coordinator requested all present to examine the tabulated list of volunteers prepared by The Coordinator and list of names submitted by Hony Capt Nagender Singh.

Although besides rank and name no other details were submitted by Hony Capt Nagender Singh, The Coordinator still requested members present to select some names from that list also.

He explained that the criteria of selection of names of ESM should be - conducting the IESM Elections in an impartial and efficient manner.

17. After considering various factors, the following names were selected by the Adhoc Committee members present, to form the Election Team for holding elections at Noida –

1. Brig Anil Kumar Adhlakha          Chief Election Officer.
2. Col CP Singh                              Returning Officer.
3. Sqn Ldr SD Mitroo                    Returning Officer.
4. Wg Cdr SK Gupta                     Returning Officer.
5. Cdr N Mahajan                          Returning Officer.
6. Col Pravin Chopra                      Returning Officer.
7. Lt Col RP Singh                         Returning Officer.
8. Hony Capt Baljit Singh               Returning Officer.
9. Sub Maj NS Verma                             Returning Officer.
10. Hav Mahendra Dwivedi              Returning Officer.
11. Hav Jagat Singh                        Returning Officer.
12. Hav Dayanand                            Returning Officer.
13. Nk Raghubir Singh                    Returning Officer.

18. The next important issue discussed was the letter to be sent to The District Registrar of Societies, Gurgaon, on the following issues –

A.   The arrangements being made by the Ad hoc Committee to hold the IESM elections at the earliest.

B.    The Registrar to detail his representatives to oversee the arrangements to ensure fair elections.

After some cosmetic changes to the layout and contents of the letter, the draft letter was approved by all members present.

19. Issue came up about the updated list of the IESM members. Wg Cdr CK Sharma explained that as Ad hoc Committee had earlier decided that the ESM who become members of IESM till 31 July 17, will be eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections, the updated list will be issued on 01 Aug 17.

20.Bank Account of IESM. Gen Satbir and Wg Cdr CK Sharma explained that in spite of letters and telephone calls to Branch Manager, till the time of start of the present meeting, the bank account was still frozen. The Manager had promised to unfreeze the account on 06 July 17.

However, a legal notice was being sent to the Bank for contempt of Order of Punjab and Haryana High Court for not unfreezing the bank account. Hopefully, the bank account will be operative soon.

21. Notice to All IESM Members for the AGM and Elections. Considering the volume of the contents of the notice, all members of the Committee present agreed that it cannot be sent out in ‘inland letter format’. The notice will have to be sent out in an envelope.

To cut down the delay in delivery and bottleneck at the Gurgaon post office, the IESM Conveners in various states will be requested to print and dispatch the notice to members in their state. A soft copy of the letter will be sent by email to the State Conveners. The envelope will be suitably marked in bold letters “Notice for IESM Elections / AGM”.
In addition all the IESM members will be centrally informed by SMS about the elections/ AGM date, time and place.

22. Suggestion came up about publishing a notice in national news papers, in Hindi and English versions, in the states in local language, about the elections and AGM. In spite of huge expenses involved, the point was unanimously accepted by all members present in the meeting. The cost effectiveness will be estimated and final decision taken thereafter.

23.The Coordinator then drew attention of the members present to the email sent by him on 04 Jul 17, regarding the adm arrangements which are required to be looked into for successful conduct of IESM elections and the AGM.

All the members unanimously agreed to the points given in the email and made a note to help in implementation of those issues.

24. Before declaring the meeting closed, The Coordinator once again earnestly appealed to all members of The Ad hoc Committee of IESM, to realize the high importance of the forthcoming elections / AGM and the heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the Ad hoc Committee to ensure successful completion of this task.

He requested for whole hearted support by All Members. He appealed to all to attend all future meetings of the Ad hoc Committee and postpone their personal commitments in order to be present for the meetings.

As far as possible two days notice of the meeting will be given.

25. Coordinator appreciated that all members of the Ad hoc Committee have made innumerable sacrifices of their health, family time, rest time and finances in the past for the sake of success of IESM, which has shown commendable results.


Let us all ones again heave together and complete this important task to the entire satisfaction of All IESM members and other ESM and families. Let us make and all out effort to put the IESM on its right track at the earliest.

26. He also informed about confirmed reports that some hawks, driven by their selfish motives, are trying their best to stall the IESM elections. Therefore, completing these elections at the earliest has become of utmost importance.

The meeting was declared closed at 1300 hrs.

Brig CS Kamboj VSM

Coordinator Adhoc Committee of IESM
Email ID – chander.kamboj@itintellectuals.com

06 Jul 2017
9810856441

PS –

1.     The above minutes will be circulated for information of All IESM Members available on email ID (and may be further circulated on other ESM Groups operating for welfare of ESM and families).

2.    All ESM are requested to generate environment conducive to hold the forthcoming elections in peaceful manner and to the entire satisfaction of majority of ESM and families. An all out support of all IESM members and other ESM and families is essential for the success of the current Ad hoc Committee in holding the IESM elections on 27 Aug 2017, at AVCC Noida.

Please do extend a helping hand.