SUNDAY 30 APRIL 2017 – OSHWAL CENTRE, POTTERS BAR – THREE PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE OAUK CONSTITUTION WERE REJECTED IN A BALLOT OF OAUK MEMBERS AT A SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING.
At Sunday’s Special General Meeting, Tusharbhai Jayantilal Shah, current OAUK President, explained the three proposed changes to the Association’s Constitution. At the beginning of the meeting it was highlighted and explained by Tusharbhai, that there was the small typo in the SGM notice, where there was a missing letter “c” in the clause numbering.
Thereafter, there was a questions and answer session where some members expressed their support, while others expressed their concerns about the proposals and their understanding and implications of the change to the Constitution.
In summary, the three proposed changes and their outcomes were as follows:
| No. | Proposal | Impact if approved | Results |
| 1 | Define the eligibility of anyone standing for office of Hon. President to have previously served at least ONE AGM term (i.e. 2 years) as either EC Trustee, EC or Area Office Bearer. | The reason for the proposal was to ensure that any candidate standing for election on Hon. President has some experience of having served the Association prior to taking the highest Office within the Association. It was felt that having such experience would be for the betterment of the Association in the long-term. | Some members present felt that no experience was required of having served the Association to stand for Hon. President role at an election. |
| 2 | Define the eligibility of EC Office Bearers to stand for office of Hon. President after having served a max of TWO AGM terms (i.e. 4 years) while restricting anyone elected to office of Hon. President to a max. of TWO AGM terms (i.e. 4 years) subject to normal election rules every TWO years. | The reason for the proposal was to provide an opportunity for any ONE of the THREE EC Office Bearer, in a non-President role, to be able to stand for role of President, should they wish to and subject to the normal election rules. | Some members present felt that EC Office Bearers in a non-President role should not have the opportunity to stand for Hon. President role at an election. |
| 3 | Reduce the number of Executive Committee (EC) portfolio holders from 12 to 10. | The reason for the proposal was to streamline the size of the EC in line with current mandatory committees as per the Association’s Regulations and to bring greater administrative efficiency by having a more streamlined EC. | Some members present felt that the EC should not be streamlined and the number of EC members should be kept at 12, even if all the positions were not filled. |
While some felt a common sense approach should be taken with regards to the typo, other members were very vocal in their objection to the ballot being conducted.
After a lengthy questions and answer session on the proposal, a ballot was conducted and although approved by the majority of the members present, the motion was not carried as our Constitution requires a 2/3rd majority, i.e. 66%, in order for the motion to be carried. The ballot results were as follows:
- In favour – 53%
- Against – 43%
- Void ballot papers – 4%
Thus, the constitutional changes were NOT approved by OAUK members present.
