Dear all,
Kindly see this page on the public wiki http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Announcements/2014-2015#Wikimedia_India_Chapter_restructures_its_director_board of Wikimedia India Chapter announcing the newly reconstituted Director Board.
As a matter of self-discipline, Wikimedia India Chapter will try to abstain from discussions on its own internal affairs in this forum / mail list to the maximum possible extend. Everyone is welcome to inquire and discuss any topics related to the chapter on appropriate pages or talk pages within the public wiki of the chapter mentioned above. From the chapter, we assure you prompt and responsible responses there, abiding by the very culture of Wikimedia missions.
With regards, Viswanathan Prabhakaran Treasurer, (On behalf of the Executive Committee) Wikimedia India Chapter
viswaprabha@wikimedia.in Wikimedia user:viswaprabha
On Mon, Sep 15, 2014 at 12:39 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar <sudhanwa.com@gmail.com
wrote:
Dear Srikanth,
Looks like people are really having thorough knowledge of the MOA. I wish if they could spend more time in actual working instead of studying the MOA.
From what ever you have said and considering the resignations of 3 members including the President in the recent past, on the face of it, it seems to me that these 3 people were completely aware of the facts about the number game and they wanted to stall the operations of WMIN by deliberate resignations. None of the resignations have any strong justifications given. In fact, Pranav has not uttered a word about any reason.
It is a shame that EC members are fighting like this on a public mailing list and not updating the members (and the community at large) on what is happening behind the scenes. ( I am following up with the EC for more than a few months and not getting any response from them. Probably, all of them were actually trying to do a shutdown that time)
Whatever the current EC is doing, let them do the work in their own way and instead of saying that their decisions are void, if you wish, you can go to the authorities and file a complaint about it. If you do not want to get into that, just keep quiet and do some positive work for the chapter.
Regards -Sudhanwa
On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 8:44 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan rsrikanth05@gmail.com wrote:
To the remaining EC members, This is with reference to recent changes in the chapter.
- As Viswa pointed out in the MoA, membership runs during the fiscal
year,
ie April to March. Thereafter, a 3 month grace period is given to
reinstate
membership. It is noted that Nikita Belavate did not renew her
membership as
on 1st of July, hence ceasing to be a member of the chapter. This was the first EC member lost. Sowmyan notified the EC of this in the first week
of
July itself.
- On 27th August, Pranav and Moksh resigned from the EC. This was the
second and third EC member loss out of seven.
- An EC meeting was held on 31st August. Certain resolutions were passed
regarding coopting a new member and appointing new office bearers etc. However a non EC member, Nikita, who ceased to be an EC member as of 1st July due to non renewal of membership was allowed to participate by the Chair, thus making both the meetings and resolutions illegal, null and
void.
- I resigned on the 3rd of September, making it the loss of EC member
number 4. As per the MoA, Article VII, 1c, the board needs to have a
minimum
quorum of 4 members to function, hence with only 3 EC members left
(Jayanta,
Karthik, Karthik), no meeting can be held and no resolution can be
passed.
- Since the chapter is now in a limbo, I suggest that the three EC
members
now contact the Registrar of Societies, Government of Karnataka and ask
them
to appoint an administrator to conduct the Annual General Meeting and elections As Soon As Possible and run the organisation in the interim.
- WMF employees, please take note that the Chapter EC is in minority and
cannot take any decision at the moment.
P.S: I understand a few days after the renewal of membership, Nikita put
in
a fresh application for membership. However, it was not put up to the EC prior to my leaving. Since the EC is now in minority, it cannot approve
hers
or any other new applications until elections are held. If an
administrator
is appointed by the Registrar of Societies, the administrator would have
the
power to approve new applications.
-- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan, What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce back.