Proceedings of the 6th Meeting of SWARBICA Executive Board
13-14th
Oct. 1981,
New Delhi
The 6th Meeting of the
Executive Board of SWARBICA was held in the party room of Hotel Janpath on
Tuesday the 14th October, 1981 at 7-11 P.M.
The
following members were present:
1.
Mr.
A. Dewaraja
Chairman
2.
Mr. S. A. I.
Tirmizi
National Member from India
3.
Dr. Shaphalya Amatya
National Member from Nepal
4.
Dr. N. H. Kulkarnee
Secretary-General
5.
Mr.
Ranbir Kishore
Treasurer
Mr. Charles Kecskemeti, Executive
Secretary of I.C. A. attended the Meeting as an Observer.
The Chairman opened the meeting by
remarking that the Board was meeting after quite some time under rather
difficult circumstances as National Members in some other countries were not
able to attend the meeting for some reason or another. He offered the thanks of
the Board to Mr. S. A. I. Tirmizi for making it possible to hold the meeting and
he was particularly glad that the ICA Executive Secretary could attend the
meeting to assist and give some advice for its proceedings.
The draft agenda was adopted by the Board.
Secretary General's Report (21 July, 1980 to 30 September, 1981)
The Chairman then called upon the
Secretary-General to present his report. The Secretary-General high lighted only
the main points of the report as the full report was already available to the
Board Members in advance. The Board suggested the following minor changes in it:
(i) Mr. Tirmizi mentioned with reference to the earlier Board meeting convened
at New Delhi in May, 1981 but which could not take place that it was at
the request made by him in his capacity as Secretary of India Historical Records
Commission. The Secretary General explained that a Board meeling could be
convened only by the Chairman on his own initiative or at the request of a
majority of Board Members (Articles 26 of the Constitution). However at Mr.
Tirmizi's suggestion It was decided
to alter the wording from "at the instance of Mr. Tirmizi, Secretary, Indian
Historical Records Commission"; (ii) The General Conference of SWARBICA along
with the Seminar on the Disposition of Government Records was postponed in
deference to Dr. Karim's request:) iii)
Reference to shifting of the venue of the Secretariat on pages
2-3 of the report might be deleted as
it was a matter of minor detail.
With these minor changes the Boards approved the report.
Possibilities of Dhaka Conference
Thereafter at the request of Dr. Amatya the letter addressed by Dr. Karim to the
Secretary-General while the latter was
away on leave in July, 1981 was read out by the
Chairman. Mr. Tirmizi, National Member from India explained the circumstances
under which it was initially proposed
to hold the SWARBICA General Conference along
with the Seminar on Desposition of Government Records and it was
confirmed by the Chairman that in deference to Dr. Karim's request the General
Conference of SWARBICA was not now being held along with the current seminar.
However, the Board felt that another letter might be sent by the Chairman to Dr.
Karim enquiring about the possible period when the Dhaka meetings could be
hosted by him along with the General Conference.
Election of New Office Bearers
The Board
then took up the next item of the agenda, viz election of office
bearers as it was over due in view of the provisions in the Constitution. After
some discussions the Board unanimously decided upon the following panel of names
for the office bearers.
1.
Chairman
Dr. K. M. Karim, Bangladesh
2.
Vice-Chairman
Dr. Shaphalya Amatya,
Nepal
3.
Secretary-General
Mr. H. D 'Silva
Dy. Director, Sri
Lanka Archives
4.
Treasurer
Dr. R. K. Perti, Asst. Director,
National Archives of
India
However, only the minimum number of members required for holding the current
Board meeting was present and the attendance of the majority of Board Members
was not available. Therefore, in accordance with a suggestion from the ICA
Executive Secretary, it was decided that the above panel of names might be sent
to the two other executive members of the Board (viz. Dr. Karim of Bangladesh
and Mr. Siddique of Afghanistan) to seek their comments by 31st December, 1981.
The
meeting adjourned to conclude .ts business the following day between 4-5 P. M.
in the room of Mr. Tirmizi, Director of Archives, Government of India.
Medium
Term Plan of SWARBICA
At
this meeting the Executive Secretary of ICA briefly explained the medium term
plan of ICA for 1983-87. He wanted the SWARBICA Board to assign priorities of
its own for the plan as whole, select items which could be taken up by SWARBICA,
again in order of priority, and formulate them into concrete proposals for
onward transmission to ICA Secretariat with a view to consideration and
implementation. The Secretary-Gene-al agreed that he would do so in
consultation with all the National Members.
Membership
The
Board suggested that the Secretary-General might directly invite the Director
General of Burmese Archives to join SWARBICA. Mr. Tirmizi clarified that prior
clearance from the Government of India would not be necessary as the
Secretary-General would be writing not in his official capacity as Assistant
Director in Government of India but as Secretary-General of a Regional Branch of
an International Organization. The Board was also informed that Mr. Bloomfield
of India Office Library would be helpful in the matter. Dr. Amatya undertook to
help establish contact with Bhutan and Mr. H. D' Silva, Deputy Director of Sri
Lanka Archives, would help establish contact with Maldives for their inclusion
in SWARBICA. So far as Indian membership was concerned, the Board authorised the
Secretary-General to enrol institutional members and only such individual
members as would approach for membership on their own. The Board members
expressed their difficulties in
enrolling institutional and individual Members from their respective countries.
However, they promised to put in their best efforts in this respect.
Subscription and Treasury
It was
decided to maintain the prevailing subscription rates as they were. However, Sri
Lanka subscription from 1981 onwards could be credited to Colombo account of
SWARBICA if the appointment of the new Secretary-General became effective. The
Board authorised the new Secretary-General, if approved by other member
countries, to draw upon the Colombo account of SWARBICA for his secretarial
expenses and H funds were necessary for other activities involving substantial
amounts, advance intimation could be sent by the Secretary-General to the
Treasurer for transmission of required funds from the New Delhi Account of
SWARBICA. It was also reiterated that the Secretary-General's travel within the
region for purposes of SWARBICA work would be met from SWARBICA Treasury.
The
Treasurer's Report was accepted by the Board and the Treasurer informed that as
soon as the new office bearers became operational he would take steps for the
operation of Colombo Account by the Secretary General.
The meeting concluded with a vote of
thanks to the Chair.
