Guidelines of Resident Welfare Association- Directorate Lr. dtd 12.03.2019

Government of India

Ministry of Communications

Department of Posts

(Welfare & Sports Section)

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi-110001

No.l-l/2017-WL/Sports Dated: 12.03.2019

All Heads of Postal Circle

Subject: Guidelines of Resident Welfare Association.

Madam / Sir,

The undersigned is directed to forward herewith the guidelines of Resident Welfare Association for information, guidance and compliance.

The Scheme is approved by Member (Planning & HRD).

Enel: As above

Guidelines for Residential Welfare Associations

1. Objective of establishment of residential colonies;

The Department built residential colonies to provide accommodation to its employees and this accommodation is made available to them in lieu of monthly house rent allowance. The main objective of the Department in arranging housing facility for employees and their family members is to provide for their convenience and a healthy environment, so that employees can work without stress and their performance can be enhanced.

2. Requirement of Residential Welfare Association (RWA);

To handle maintenance and other types of problems in the residential colonies built by the Department, the need for Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) was felt. All the employees residing in these colonies should be provided membership of the RWA. There should be a process by which the Governing Council of the RWA is chosen. The main duties of the Governing Council will be to redress the grievances, like electricity, water, sanitation, hygiene, safety, wear & tear, etc., of the residents quickly.

3. Main duties of the RWA;

I. To maintain a non-discriminative, cordial and collaborative atmosphere for all the employees and their families members living in the colony.

II. To ensure that there is adequate security in the colony and the colony is always kept clean. The security and cleanliness of the colony should be reviewed regularly.

III. To organise community programmes for the employees residing in the colony.

IV. To ensure participation of maximum number of residents of the colony in the celebrations on the occasion of National Festivals like Republic Day, Independence Day & Gandhi Jayanti and also on the occasion of the celebration of the anniversaries of eminent persons with a National stature.

V. To facilitate various extra-curricular activities for the employees and their family members.

VI. To organise medical camps regularly in the colony for the residents of the colony.

VII. To maintain cordial relations with local elected people’s representatives.

VIII. To reduce the loss of lives and properties during natural disaster such as earthquake, flood, fire, etc. in cooperation and coordination with all the stakeholders and act as a bridge between the administration and the residents of the colony.

To be of assistance, without any discrimination & influence, if any family living in the colony faces any problem.

To report any unethical activity, being done/carried out in the colony by its , residents or external elements, to the local administration and the Department.

To prevent wastage of water & electricity in the colony and to make adequate arrangement for saving the resources.

To keep the record of the expenses out of the assistance granted by the Department, as well as items provided by employees who reside in the colony and inform the same to the Department from time to time and to the residents during the quarterly meeting of the RWA.

To ensure early disposal of the complaints lodged in the complaint book.

To follow the rules contained in the Constitution of RWA .

The meeting of the Governing Council should be held at least once every quarter to discuss the ways to solve the issues pertaining to colony.

Every two year a schedule for the election of the Governing Council of RWA should be issued. An election supervisor should also be appointed from Divisional Office for the above elections to ensure peaceful election process.

The Department should be informed regularly about the problems being faced by RWA and the activities being organised by them.

To plant more trees/Plants/natural vegetation within the available space in the premises of the colony to develop Park (s) wherever feasible and creating environmental friendly complex.

To find solution for any issues in the colony, through mutual discussion and the rules set forth in the Constitution of the RWA.

To ensure that the welfare activities in the colony are run smoothly and all kinds of tasks are completed in the fixed time frame.

4. Responsibilities of Divisional Office / Circle Office;

III. The concerned Senior Superintendent/Superintendent of Post Offices should conduct quarterly visits of the departmental colony and submit the visit report to the Circle Office.

IV. The RWA requires funds from time to time for carrying out various day to day basic activities such as cleaning, security, etc., for which collection of the monthly subscription should be made from each residential quarter. The ' rates of the said subscription and other contributions by the member of

RWA are to be decided by the respective governing council of PRWA’s.

The responsibility for collection of subscription and accounts maintenance will jointly be with the Treasurer and Secretary of the PRWA Governing Council. This provision should also be mentioned in the allotment letter during allotment of a house to the employee.

5. Postal Residential Welfare Association Guidelines;

(1) Tenure: The tenure of the RWA will be two years.

(2) Membership: The provisions for the membership of an RWA are as follows:

(i) Governing council (GC) may enhance membership monthly contribution considering the monthly expenditure of colony.

(ii) Each employee living in the colony in allotted accommodation will be a member of the RWA.

(iii) The following posts are provided in the Governing Council (GC) of Postal Residential Welfare Association:

(iv) The Composition of the GC may be altered by convening a GBM while following other formalities. However, the approval of Divisional Office is required for such a change.

(v) Under normal circumstances the tenure of every Governing Council will be two years and election for all the above posts will be held at the beginning of every financial year at the same time. All elections of RWA should be completed by the month of May.

(vi) The meeting of the Governing Council should be held at least once in a quarter and the date of the meeting must be notified at least three days before the said meeting.

(vii) A copy of the minutes of each meeting of the Council should be sent to the concerned Divisional Office.

(viii) The quorum of all the meetings of Governing Council, except emergency meetings, is one-third of total members of the Governing Council.

(ix) The Governing Council should take all kinds of administrative as well as financial decisions on the basis of the majority present and voting and before implementing these decisions it should be brought to the notice of the Divisional office.

(x) In case two-thirds of the members of RWA including GC members are in favour of dissolving the current GC, re-elections would be required by dissolving the current GC. The tenure of new GC will be valid for the balance of the tenure of the previous GC

(xi) Every GC has to submit the audited statement of accounts of the RWA to the Circle office annually by 3C‘ May. Audited statement of account should be formatted as per DoPT letter no.7/01/2016-welfare dated 22ndJune, 2016 (Annexure-I).

(xii) A Joint account will be opened in the nearest Bank/Post Office for the purpose of PRWA in the name of Secretary and Treasurer of the PRWA and the subscription collected from those residing in colony will be deposited in the said account. The account will be operated jointly the Secretary and Treasurer. The account must be maintained by RWA in the name of Secretary and treasurer for the purpose of receipt and expenditure of the funds.

(xiii) An Audit committee will be constituted by the Controlling Office for auditing the functions and expenses, etc. of the RWA. The Audit Committee shall audit the accounts of PRWA once in a year and submit its report to controlling Office/circle Office. The account of RWA will have to be audited by the Committee constituted by Chief Welfare Officer ie. CPMG. These audit reports would be submitted to the Circle Offices annually.

6. Powers and Duties of the Members of GC;

(i) President - He shall preside over the meetings of the General Body/Managing Committee and exercise general supervision over the activities of the Association. He may dispose of such important and urgent matter which for want of time cannot be put up to the Governing Council and report the same in the next meeting of the Governing council. He may also authorize expenditure up to Rs.350/- expenditure and the expenditure so incurred should be got approved by the governing council at its next meeting. He would be treated as ‘head’ of the association. In the event of resignation by any office bearer/member, the President shall arrange to convene a meeting of the Governing council within a week of receipt of resignation in which the nominated representative of the Divisional Office will be present.

(ii) Vice-President - He will discharge all responsibilities assigned to him by the President from time to time. During the absence of the President, Vice President will act as President and will also bear all the powers and responsibilities of the post.

(iii) Secretary - He shall (i) maintain a register containing the names and addresses of the members of the association, (ii) issue notice of the meeting is consultation with the Presidents and record the minutes of the meetings,(iii) be responsible to the Governing council for all activities of the Association and will conduct correspondence on behalf of the association, (iv) have authority to incur expenditure not exceeding Rs.l50/- in anticipation of formal sanction, such expenditure being reported to the governing Council for approval at its next meeting

(v) submit a report on the working of Association for the preceding year at the annual general Meeting and

(vi) execute contracts on behalf of the Association as and when authorized to do so by the governing council,

(vii) keep all the records (excluding cash and accounts) of the correspondence with him.

(iv) Joint Secretary - He will discharge all responsibility assigned to him by the President and Secretary from time to time. During the absence of the Secretary, the Joint Secretary will act as Secretary and will exercise all the powers and responsibilities of the post.

(v) Treasurer -He shall (i) be responsible for making all collections and receive cash and give receipts thereon on behalf of the Association and be responsible for the proper maintenance of Association accounts,

(ii) keep regular accounts of money received and disbursed and be responsible for the proper maintenance of the accounts book and other registers of the Association and for this purpose, he shall post all the receipts of income and expenditure regularly in the cash book and put it up for information of the Governing Council in its next meeting,

(iii) work as Financial Advisor to the President/Secretary of the Association,

(iv) keep cash in hand up to Rs.350/- only and to deposit excess funds, if any, in the Bank,

(v) prepare annual statement of accounts at the end of the financial year and after approval of the Governing council submit it to the annual General Body Meeting duly audited (along with the auditor’s report and replies thereto, if any).

(vi) Convenor - Convenor would carry out their related responsibilities under

the supervision of RWA President and Secretary.

7. General Body;

(i) It should be consist of all members of the RWA.

(ii) The meeting of GB are to be conducted within a period of time which the members of the RWA think fit.

(iii) A GB can be a called by a written notice of at least 14 days. The quorum for the said meeting shall be RWA of the total numbers of members.

(iv) Removal of officer bearers etc. can be done by the General Body of RWA, following due formalities, with prior intimation to, and approval of Divisional Office.

8. Election Process;

(i) There is a provision for general election for all the posts of GC. All member of the General Body are eligible to vote. Retired persons retaining their accommodation of the permissible period can also vote.

(ii) In normal circumstances the election process must be completed by 31st May every two years and election to all the posts of GC will be held in a single phase.

(iii) Disposal of all election-related disputes would under the jurisdiction of the concerned Divisional Office. The person nominated by the Divisional Office will act as the interface between RWA and the Department and he shall be present as an Observer for Election process.

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