Constitution of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi

Whereas it is considered expedient to establish a State organisation to work actively for the development of Odia literature and to set high literary standards to foster and co-ordinate literary activities and to promote through them all, the cultural unity of the State, we the following persons, hereby resolve to establish and operate the "Odisha Sahitya Akademi".

Headquarters:

The headquarters of the Akademi shall be at Bhubaneswar.

Organisation and Functions:

a. The Akademi shall be a corporate body, shall have a perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.

b. It shall have the following powers and functions, namely :

The headquarters of the Akademi shall be at Bhubaneswar.

• To promote co-operation among men of letters and literary associations, Universities and cultural organisations and to encourage the establishment and development of representative literary associations concerned with the advancement of Oriya literature,
• To encourage or to arrange translation of literary works from different Indian languages into Oriya and also from foreign languages into Oriya and vice versa,
• To publish or to assist associations and individuals in publishing literary works including bibliographies, dictionaries, bilingual or multilingual encyclopedias, basic vocabularies etc. in the Oriya Language and also publishing literary journals, reviews and lists of publications in Oriya,
• To sponsor or to hold literary conferences, seminars and exhibitions,
• To award prizes and distinctions and to give recognition to individual writers for outstanding works,
• To promote research in Oriya language and literature and to encourage the propagation and study of such literature,
• To improve and develop the Oriya and other scripts in use in Orissa and to encourage publication of selected books in Oriya language in the Devanagari Script,
• To promote cultural exchanges with other states in India and countries abroad and to correspond and establish relations with National and International organisations in the field of letters.
• To encourage writers on scientific subjects or text books at collegiate stage in Odia,
• To collect, compile and publish folk-songs and folk-tales,
• To publish outstanding books in Oriya,
• To receive grants, endowments and other donations and in furtherance of the objectives and activities of the Akademi to purchase land, to own property of all kinds and to maintain, sell, mortgage or otherwise dispose of it, and
• To be such other acts and things whether incidental to the powers aforesaid or not, as may be required in order to further its objects.

Officers of the Akademi:

(i) President

(ii) Vice-President

(iii) Treasurer-cum-Financial Adviser

(iv) Secretary

President:

(i)The President and the Vice-President shall be appointed by the State Government and shall hold office for such period as the State Government may determine.

(ii)The President shall continue in office until the new President enters upon his office.

(iii)The President shall have the power to preside over the General Council and such other committees of which he is named a member and to take decisions on behalf of the General Council or the Executive Board when circumstances so warrant subject to ratification by the concerned authority at its next meeting.

Vice-President

The Vice-President shall in the absence of the President for whatever reasons exercise all the powers and functions of the President.

Treasurer-cum-Financial Adviser:

(i)The Treasurer shall be appointed by the State Government and shall hold office for such period as the State Government may determine.

(ii)The Treasurer-cum-Financial Adviser, shall

• Subject to the control of the Executive Board of the Akademi manage the property and investments of the Akademi,
• Be responsible for the preparation of the annual estimates and statements of accounts and for their presentation in the Finance Committee and the Executive Board and the General Council,
• Subject to the general supervision and control of the Executive Board be responsible for seeing that all moneys are utilised for the purpose for which they are granted or allotted.
• Sign all contracts made on behalf of the Akademi and
• Exercise such other powers as may be assigned to him by the Executive Board.

(iii)The receipt of the Treasurer or of the person or persons duly authorised in this behalf by the Executive Board for any money paid into or from the accounts of the Akademi shall be sufficient discharge for the same.

(iv)The State Government shall be competent to issue directives at their discretion pertaining to the financial administration of the Akademi and the directives of the Executive Board and the General Council shall, to the extent of repugnance, be inoperative.

Secretary:

(i)The Secretary shall be the Principal Executive Officer of the Akademi and he shall be appointed by the State Government for such period on such terms and conditions as the Government shall determine.

(ii)The Secretary shall be ex-officio Secretary of the General Council, the Executive Board, the Finance Committee and all other Committees which shall be set up by the General Council or the Executive Board.

(iii) It shall be the duty of the Secretary : .

• To be the custodian of the records and such other property of the Akademi as the Executive Board shall commit to his charge, and subject to the general supervision and control of the Executive Board to manage the property and funds of the Akademi for the purposes for which they are granted or allotted,
• To conduct the official correspondence on behalf of the authorities of the Akademi,
• To issue all notices convening meetings of authorities of the Akademi and of all committees appointed by any of those authorities,
• To keep the minutes of all meetings of the authorities of the Akademi and of all committees appointed by any of those authorities,
• To maintain the accounts of the Akademi,
• To present an annual report on the working of the Akademi to the General Clouncil,
• To control the office and make appointment of staff with the approval of the Executive Board,
• To execute all contracts on behalf of the Akademi and
• To carry out the instructions issued by the State Government from time to time and to afford all facilities to officers of the Government for inspection, audit etc

Authorities of the Akademi:

The following shall be the authorities of the Akademi, namely,

(i) General Council

(ii) Executive Board

(iii) Finance Committee and

(iv) Any other standing committee or ad-hoc committee which the General Council or the Executive Board may set up for discharging any one or more of their functions.

General Council:

The General Council shall consist of the following :-

• President
• Vice-President
• Treasurer
• Secretary of the Akademi
• Five persons nominated by the State Government of whom one shall be a representative of the Department of Culture and another one of the Education Department
• One person from each of the districts of Orissa to be appointed by the State Government.
• Eight representatives from the Universities in Orissa to be appointed by the State Government.
• Eight persons eminent in the field of Oriya literature appointed in their individual capacity by the General Council.
• A representative of the State Advisory Committee for Museum, Archives and Archeology to be appointed by the State Government.

Each member of the General Council excluding the official members shall hold office for 3 calender years from the date of his appointment and shall be eligible for reappointment.

Official members of the Council shall not be regulated by the provisions of clause (i) above.

Functions of the General Council:

The General Council shall have the following functions and powers, namely:

• To elect members to the Executive Board as are required to be elected and to prescribe the rules of procedure for the Executive Board,
• To elect members of the Finance Committee as are required to be elected and to prescribe the rules of procedure of the Finance Committee.
• To approve the annual budget of the Akademi drawn up by the Executive Board and submit the same for the approval of the State Government,
• To frame its own rules, regulations, bye- laws and rules of procedure provided that the rules, regulations, bye-laws and rules of procedure whether of the General Council or of the Executive Board or of the Finance Committee shall require the prior approval of the State Government,
• To approve the programme and projects proposed by the Executive Board, and
• To carry on and arrange for the execution of directives issued by the State Government.

Meeting of the General Council:

• The General Council shall ordinarily meet at least once a year at a place and on a date as may be fixed by the President. Special meetings may be called at any other time by the President or by the Executive Board either on his or its own initiative or at the request of not less than 2/3 of the total number of members of the General Council.
• The meeting of the Council will have quorum of 1/3rd of the total membership.

Executive Board:

The Executive Board shall consist of the following members namely:

• President
• Vice-President
• Secretary of the Akademi
• Two members nominated by the State Government from among their nominees in the General Council and three persons to be elected by the General Council from among its members.

Functions of the Executive Board:

The Board shall have the following powers and functions, namely,

• To exercise the Executive authority of the Akademi subject to the policy directives of the General Council,
• To be responsible for the supervision and control of the work of the Akademi and of its office,
• To consider and prepare programmes of the Akademi and specific projects for submission to the General Council and to execute such programmes and projects after approval by the General Council,
• To prepare the annual budget of the Akademi as recommended by the Finance Committee and present the same to the General Council for its approval,
• To see that the expenditure is properly incurred in accordance with the provisions of the budget as approved by the General Council,
• To prepare the annual report and accounts of the Akademi for consideration and approval of the General Council,
• To consider and propose to the General Council names of literary persons of outstanding merit who should be felicitated on behalf of the Akademi,
• To award prizes on the basis of competitions organized on behalf of the Akademi, and
• To perform such other duties as may be entrusted to it by the General Council from time to time.

Finance Committee:

The Finance Committee shall consist of the following members, namely:

• The Director of Culture, Chairman
  Govt. of Odisha
• Treasurer Member
• Secretary of the Akademi who will be Secretary of the Committee.
• Three representatives to be elected by the General Council from among its members.
• The term of office of each member (except of official members) of the Finance Committee shall be 3 years.

Functions of the Finance Committee:

The Finance Committee shall consider the budget estimates of the Akademi, make recommendations thereon to the Executive Board and prescribe the limits for total expenditure within a financial year in respect of any item included in the budget.

The accounts of Akademi shall be audited by an officer appointed by the State Government who shall also be competent to arrange for the inspection of Akademi’s office.

General:

• Any rule made or decision taken by the General Council or by any authority of the Akademi except where the authority acts in accordance with its powers and functions as defined in this resolution, may be amended or set aside by the general council.
• The General Council may, by a majority of not less than two-third of the members present and voting amend this Memorandum of Association in such manner as the General Council may decide provided that no amendment shall, without the approval of the State Government, be put into effect.
• All casual vacancies among the members (other than ex-officio members) of the General Council or any other body of the Akademi shall be filled, as soon as may be, by the person or body who appointed or elected the member whose place has fallen vacant and the person appointed or elected to a casual vacancy shall be a member of such authority or body for the residue of the term for which the person whose place he fills would have been a member.

Dissolution:

Upon dissosution of the Akademi, the assets of the Akademi after meeting all its liabilities, will be handed over to the State Governmetn.