About UNPAI 

UNPAI in India is working under an approved Constitution defining all rules and procedures governing it.

The need to establishment of an Association for UN retired officials was felt in early 1975. It was then felt that after retirement there always remained many issues those required follow up either with each UN Agency or with United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF). Most of the retired officials could not get correct information to get their rightful benefit.

Since almost all UN Agencies are based in New Delhi, India, the capital city, it was considered most appropriate to have the Association office in New Delhi. The other advantage was available of pouch services to many locations and to UN Agencies Headquarters. In addition, to fast communication facilities to almost all over the world was available in Delhi.

A small group of retirees got together from many UN Agencies and set up UN Pensioners’ Association India (UNPAI) at New Delhi. Initially it started with 14 members. But today it has over 500 members from all UN Agencies both from India and outside India. UNPAI is working from a space provided in the UN House.

Association is working within the frame-work of its Constitution which is reproduced below :

CONSTITUTION of UNPAI
The name of the Association shall be UNITED NATIONS Pensioners' Association India (UNPAI).

Objectives and Functions:

a. To identify and study problems of common interest faced by its members, attempt to resolve such problems and take steps to represent, safeguard and promote their legitimate interests;

b. To provide assistance and protection to members in all areas affecting their status as former employees of UN system and its Specialized Agencies. Disseminate information of interest to members:

c. To promote Social and Cultural activities for the benefit of its Members and their families and to foster good relations among themselves;

d. To maintain relations and co-ordination with all Staff Associations of UN system and its Specialised Agencies for the benefit of both Members and UN; and

e. To undertake such activities as necessary for or incidental to attainment or furtherance of the objectives of the Association and the UN.
Membership: Membership of UNPAI shall be accorded to:

a. Former staff members of UN system;
b. Former Experts and Consultants who have served UN system for at least 5 years;
c. Present staff members of UN organizations who are due to retire in two years’ time. Such persons shall not be admitted as Associate Members.

They shall not be eligible to seek election or vote for any office;
d. The surviving spouse of a member.

Membership fee shall be as may be approved by the General Body from time to time. Life members shall be enrolled on payment of ten years’ subscription in a lump sum. For members residing overseas, the membership fee shall be double the amount payable by other members.
A member may resign from the Association by submitting a written communication to that effect. Information about this shall be made available to the General Body at its next meeting.

a. Membership of a member, who fails to pay the membership dues by 30 June of the year, shall stand terminated.
b. The General Body, on the recommendations of the Executive Committee, may terminate the membership of any member who indulges in activities in contravention of the objectives of the Association.

Scope
Although the Association will primarily look after the interests of it members, it can collaborate with similar Associations or Staff Associations of U.N. or its Agencies that can directly or indirectly contribute to the achievement of its objectives.

Headquarters
The Association shall have its headquarters at U.N. House in New Delhi.

Official Year
The official year of the Association shall be Calendar year (1st January to 31st December).

Organization
The affairs of the Association shall be managed and conducted by
a. General Body
b. Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee shall consist of 11 members as follows:

They will be elected by the General Body which will also elect an Auditor (who shall not be a member of the Executive Committee):
a. President
b. Vice President
c. Secretary
d. Joint Secretary
e. Treasurer
f. Six other members of which one each will be convenor of pension, cultural and editorial sub-committees.

The General Body or the Executive Committee may appoint other sub-committees or individuals for various purposes for the attainment and furtherance of the objectives of the Association.

Any member of the Association whose membership contribution is fully paid shall be eligible for election to the Executive Committee and its various sub-committees.

Duties of Office Bearers
The President shall preside over all meetings of the General Body and the Executive Committee. He/she shall deal with and sign correspondence and/or delegate this responsibility to the concerned office bearers, as appropriate, including authorization of payment of expenditure approved by the President and reported to the Executive Committee.

The Vice-president shall assist the President and act for him/her as and when requested or in his/her absence.

The Secretary shall be responsible for all the administrative matters concerning the Association. He/she shall issue Agenda for the meetings, keep a record of each meeting and shall sign correspondence of routine nature. He/she shall carry out any responsibilities entrusted to him/her by the President and/or the Executive Committee. He/she shall maintain records of all documents of the Association.

The Joint Secretary shall assist the Secretary and act for him/her in his/her absence.

The Treasurer shall be the custodian of the Association’s funds. He/she shall maintain accounts and be responsible for presenting them to the President, the Executive Committee and the General Body. He/she shall expeditiously deposit funds of the Association with the Bank approved by the Executive Committee. He/she shall issue receipts for all funds received and make payments within approved budgetary provisions after certification by the concerned members of the Executive Committee. He/she shall collect membership fee and voluntary contributions/donations. He/she shall prepare yearly financial statements for audit and for approval by the General Body. He/she shall also sign correspondence dealing with financial matters. He/she will be responsible for maintenance of proper accounts for Annual audit by the Auditor.
The Auditor shall audit accounts of the Association and if considered necessary shall make a separate written report to the General Body listing any irregularities in the Association’s accounts and make suitable recommendations.

Funds
In order to meet the expenses of the Association, both administrative and for achievement of the objectives of the Association, an account in the name of the Association shall be opened in a bank, to be named by the Executive Committee. All cash funds of the Association except for the necessary imprest accounts shall be deposited into the bank accounts(s) as the Executive Committee may determine. Withdrawal of money by cheques or letters shall be by the combined signatures of the Treasurer and any one of the other three of the following:
a. President
b. Vice-President
c. Secretary

Special fund(s) may be created by the Association for a specified purpose. The Executive Committee is authorized to lay down in advance its purpose, disbursement and winding up procedures for these funds for approval by the General Body.

Rules of Procedure
Annual General Body meetings shall be held normally in February of each year. The President, in consultation with the Executive Committee or at the written request of at least 30 members of the Association, shall call an Extra Ordinary General Body meeting. Thirty members shall form the quorum for any General Body Meeting. If the number of members present in the General Body meeting are less than thirty which does not constitute a quorum, the meeting shall stand adjourned. The adjourned meeting shall be held later for which no quorum shall be necessary.
Any voting at the General Body Meeting shall be by secret ballot when requested by at least ten members present.

The Executive Committee shall meet as and when necessary. It shall carry out the decisions of the General Body and submit its reports to the General Body. Six members shall form the quorum of the Executive Committee.

All elected members shall hold office for a term two-years and shall be eligible for re-election. No member shall hold the same office for more than two consecutive terms. Vacancies in the Executive Committee can be filled either through interim election at the General Body Meeting, or by co-option by majority decision of the Executive Committee.

Between 1st January and the date of the Annual General Body meeting shall be treated as the ‘interim period’ during which no major decision shall be taken. During this period, Annual Report and Audited Statement of accounts shall be prepared and circulated to members.
Newly elected Executive Committee Members shall be introduced at the Annual General Body Meeting by the outgoing President. The newly elected Executive Committee shall take over after the General Body Meeting.

Elections
An Election Committee consisting of a Convenor and two members chosen by the General Body shall be responsible for conducting election of all the office bearers of the Executive Committee by secret ballot. The Auditor will be nominated by the General Body.

a. The Election Committee, through the UNPAI Bulletin for the quarter ending June, shall notify members about the forthcoming election and invite nominations. The nomination form, on a perforated sheet of paper, shall form part of the UNPAI Bulletin and the completed nomination form shall be returnable to the Convenor of the Election Committee in an envelope clearly marked ‘NOMINATION FOR EC’ to reach the Convenor by a specified date.

b. While inviting nominations, the Election Committee shall inform the members about
• The eligibility criteria for election purposes
• Confidentiality of the nomination process, and

• Ensuring that the candidates nominated are agreeable to their names being proposed for the particular position.
c. The Election Committee shall, in the UNPAI Bulletin for the quarter ending September, notify the members of the nominations received, indicating the last date for withdrawal of the nominations.

d. The final numbered ballot form, on a perforated sheet of paper, shall be published in the UNPAI Bulletin for the quarter ending December, requesting members to detach the perforated ballot form from the Bulletin, and return it in a sealed envelope, after completing, addressed to the Convenor, Election Committee, UNPAI, by a specified date. The envelope shall be marked confidential indicating clearly ‘BALLOT PAPER’.
All sealed envelopes shall be opened by the Election Committee the presence of all its members and such other candidates and/or their nominees as may wish to attend. The Election Committee, after scrutiny of the ballot papers received and after tabulating them, shall announce the results in the General Body meeting. Those securing the highest number of votes for various posts shall be declared elected.
Amendments to the Constitution

The General Body, on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, may amend the Constitution by a two-third majority of members present subject to the provisions contained in Para below:

Any change in the Constitution will not come into force until a period of two months has elapsed from the adoption of such a change, during which period all the members shall be informed of the proposed changes. Should one-third members of the total membership lodge an objection to the proposed decision, the change shall not come into effect and the matter shall be referred back to the General Body of guidance.
Dissolution of the Association

The Association may be dissolved by a two-third majority of the constituents through a referendum. In such an event, the assets shall be disposed of in the manner decided by the General Body. 

Preamble
The lockdown was declared by the Government of India and State Governments due to the Corona-19 virus spreading all over India. As a result, our association UNPAI could not carry out several normal activities. The recent relaxations by the governments, left very little time to complete various constitutionally mandated activities of the UNPAI.

The current EC tenure is coming to an end within a few weeks and unfortunately, the AGM held in Feb 2020 did not nominate an Election Officer and an Auditor. In 2021. The current EC could not hold AGM in 2021 due to Lockdown by the Corona-19 pandemic.

This is a very precarious situation and the EC met a few times and had discussions to resolve the issue related to the election of the new EC and the Appointment of an auditor as per the requirement of the current Statues and Rules of UNPAI. However, no solution could be found as the authority for these issues lies with the AGM.

In view of the current situation that arose due to Coronavirus and lockdown, EC is recommending to its members for the approval of the following three items for approval by circulation, To enable EC to complete the required mandates and activities till the situation improve and the new EC is in place.

These agenda items have been fully discussed and approved by the EC for submission to all the members of UNPAI for approval by circulation.


Proposed Agenda items by circulation for the approval of the members of the UNPAI:

1. THAT the current EC should continue for another year, till 31 Dec 2022. During this period EC will try to conduct various activities for the benefit of its members. EC is authorized to identify and appoint an Election Officer to conduct the election of the new EC.

2. THAT as the UNPAI De-facto is fully associated with the UN system for its retired officers as such the UNPAI is not involved in any commercial, business, or Trading activities that required a certified chartered accountant to audit accounts of the UNPAI. Therefore a senior retired UN staff member, familiar with accounting procedures, be selected/nominated to check and examine the financial statements and documents each year, till 31 December 2021. These statements should be prepared by the UNPAI Treasurer, signed by the President, or in his absence the Vice President, the Secretary, and the Treasurer of UNPAI and countersigned by the nominated Finance member for submission to the AGM.

3. THAT all the members of the EC and the persons nominated as Facilitators must attend at least two EC meetings in a year to support and cooperate with the function of the Executive Committee of UNPAI.

All members are requested to send their consent by email or through a letter to reach us at UNPAI, C/o UNDP, 55, Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110003, latest by 31 December 2021. No response by the due date will be deemed as approval of the proposed agenda items for action.

Thank you very much, looking forward to your considered opinion and comments, if any.
email at : unpai.in@gmail.com, vineyjain1@hotmail.com


V.K.Jain
(President)
UNPAI