Proceedings of the Third Meeting of SWARBICA Executive Board
22nd
Jan. 1979,
Colombo
The
third meeting of the Executive Board of SWARBICA was held at the Sri Lanka
Foundation Institute, Colombo, on Monday, the 22nd January, 1979 at 2.00 p. m.
In the absence of Mr. Parham, Chairman, the Vice-Chairman, Mr. Dewaraja, was
requested to preside over the meeting and he kindly agreed to do so. The
following members were present:
1.
Mr. A. Dewataja
Vice-Chairman
2.
Mr. Hedayatullah Akram
National Member from Afghanistan
3.
Dr. K. M. Karim
National Member from Bangladesh
4.
Dr. Shaphalya Amatya National Member from
Nepal
5.
Dr. E. Franz
Nominee of Dr. Rhoads,
President, ICA
6.
Dr. N. H. Kulkarnee
Secretary-General
7.
Mr. Ranbir Kishore
Treasurer
Dr. Morris Riegef, Chairman, ICA Commities on Archival Development, Dr.
Frank Evans, Programme Specialist, GIP Division, UNESCO, and Mr. Najibullah
Ahmadi, a member of the Directorate of Archives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Afghanistan, were invited to attend the meeting as Observers.
The absence of Mr. Parham (Iran), Dr. Prasad (National Member from India)
and Mr. Sheikh (National Member from Pakistan) owing to unavoidable reasons was
very much regretted.
Mr. Dewaraja then opened the meeting with words of welcome and the draft
agenda was unanimously adopted.
New
Office Bearers:
At the request of Mr. Akram it was decided to take up item no. 15 of the
Agenda (election of office-bearers) first for consideration. Mr. Akram proposed,
and Dr. Amatya seconded the proposal that the following persons should hold the
office for the two-year term, 1979-80:
1.
Mr. A. Dewaraja
Chairman
2.
Dr. K. M. Karim
Vice-Chairman
3.
Dr. N. H. Kulkarnee
Secretary-General
4.
Mr. Ranbir Kishore
Treasurer
The
proposal was unanimously accepted. The new office-bearers thanked the Board for
the honor bestowed on them and expressed their intention to work hard for the
growth of the Branch. Mr. Akram expressed his gratitude for the excellent work
done by the previous office bearers. He was joined by Dr. Karim and Dr. Amatya
in paying glowing tributes to Sri Lanka Government, its President His Excellency
J. R. Jayawardene, Honourable E. L. B. Hurulle, the Minister for Cultural
Affairs, and the Director of Archives, Mr. Dewaraja for hosting the meetings in
such a splendid manner and for the warmth of their hospitality.
Dr.
Kulkarnee pointed out that a Regional Repporteur for 1979-80 had also to be
elected. The Board unanimously decided that Dr. Kulkarnee should continue to
hold this office. Dr. Kulkarnee thanked the Board.
Rules
of Business and Secretary-General's Report to the General Conference:
After clause by clause discussion the Board adopted the rules of business as framed by the Secretary-General, with certain minor changes. The Secretary-General then read out his report for the period 10 December 1976 to 31 December 1 978 end it was approved by the Board for presentation to the General Conference (Report enclosed).
Membership:
The Chairman, Mr. Dewaraja and Dr. Amatya decided upon steps to be taken
for securing the active cooperation from the National Member from Pakistan Mr.
Sheikh, towards SWARBICA work. The Board agreed with these steps and regretted
that Mr. Sheikh had been unable to attend the Board meetings so far. It was
decided to take similar steps for the enrolment of the Royal Government of Bhutan
as a National Member.
The Board members reiterated their resolve to enroll institutional and
individual members from their respective countries. Dr. Karim pointed out the
necessity of enrolling records managers, librarians, documentalists, public
administrators, political scientists and similar professionals from sister
disciplines rather than historians, and users of archives alone.
The Board agreed that a flexible approach should be maintained for the
time being in respect of issues like double membership, individual member
wanting to represent institutions, one institute being represented by two
persons and the like. Dr. Franz pointed out the desirability of associating
ladies with the SWARBICA meetings. The Secretary-General informed him that a few
ladies had become individual members, who could always be co-opted as and when
necessary.
The Board decided that the Secretary-General should convey its
gratitude to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan for the prompt payment of
fees and close co-operation with SWARBICA.
Subscription
Rates:
The Board decided to maintain for the term 1979-80 the present annual
rates of National Membership fees (India Rs. 3,000/-).
For the proposed category of Associate Members the rates suggested were
Indian Rs. 50/- for Individuals and Indian Rs. 500/- for institutions.
Constitutional Amendments:
The Board agreed to the following amendments to the constitution after
some discussion and decided to seek the approval of the General Conference for
the same.
Existing Clause (Article 3):
-3. The membership of SWARBICA
shall normally be confined to the countries in South and West Asia, and shall be
of the following categories.
(I) National Members: Such national
archive; directorates or principal archival authorities in the countries in the
region, as are members of the International Council on Archives; shall be
eligible to become National Members of SWARBICA.
(II) Institutional Members: Such
institutions in the region including libraries and universities, as are
concerned with the custody, organisation and administration of archives and
archival material shall be eligible to become members of SWARBICA.
* The
first Amendment was approved by the General Conference. The second Amendment was
postponed.
(III)
Individual Members: -Any professional archivist or other individuals
interested in archives, are eligible to become individual Members and; to attend
the meetings of SWARBICA as observers. Such members shall not have the right to
vote.
(IV) Honorary
Member:
-Nationals of South and West Asia, who have made outstanding contributions in
the archival field, or who have rendered significant service to the archive
profession, may be elected as Honorary Members of SWARBICA by the General
Conference. The number of such members shall be determined by the General
Conference from time to time. Honorary Members shall not have the right to vote.
ADD
(V)
Associate Members: -Any institution or individual not belonging to any country
in South and West Asia, but having genuine interest in the aims and objects of
SWARBICA, shall be eligible to become an Associate Member of SWARBICA. The
number of such members shall be determined by the General Conference from time
to time. The Associate Members shall have neither the right to vote nor a
position in the Executive Board.
|
Existing Clause
(Article 17) |
Amendment |
|
The Executive Board shall consist of
a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, a Secretary General, a Treasurer, and as
many other members as maybe necessary to represent each country on the
Executive Board. |
"The
Executive Board shall
consist of a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, a Secretary General, a
Treasurer, and all National Members not included amongst them", |
It was
decided to draw the attention of the General Conference to the rule of business
which permits the Board to co-opt anyone at its meetings for the transaction of
its business.
SWARBICA Journal:
The Board
decided that the Secretary-General should continue to edit the Journal with such
assistance from other members as was available. They agreed to furnish materials
for the Journal, They also agreed to the sale price being fixed in accordance
with the cost per issue. The Board did not approve free supply of copies
to all ICA Member countries. Dr. Franz and Dr. Evans made suggestions for
enrolling subscribers to the Journal from all over the world and agreed to
convey these suggestions in writing to the Secretary-General later on. The Board
members agreed to furnish photographs of the repositories in
their countries for publication in the
Journal.
The Secretary-General pointed out that Dr. Rieger had taken great trouble
to attend the meetings. The Board thanked Dr. Rieger and after a vote of thanks
to the new Chairman, it was decided to adjourn the meeting till 26th January,
1979.
