Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (ABCWF): Notification, Bylaws, Scheme for the Administration

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 17th July, 2017

IN THE MATTER OF THE CHARITABLE ENDOWMENTS ACT, 1890

AND

IN THE MATTER OF ARMY BATTLE CASUALTIES WELFARE FUND, NEW DELHI

S.R.O. 25(E).—Whereas Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence, Department of Ex-Servicemen, being the person who proposes to apply the funds of the Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund, New Delhi in trust for charitable purposes has applied for vesting the funds mentioned in Schedule ‘A’ annexed hereto in the Treasurer of Charitable Endowments for India and for the settlement of a scheme for the administration of the said funds;

Now, therefore, the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred by section 4 and 5 of the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890 (6 of 1890), and upon the application, as aforesaid and with the concurrence of the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Defence, Department of Ex-Servicemen do hereby order that the money set out in Schedule ‘A’ annexed hereto shall, as from the date of publication of this notification, be vested in the Treasurer of Charitable Endowments for India to be held by him and his successors in office upon trust to hold the said moneys and the income thereof in accordance with the trust and terms set out in the scheme set forth in Schedule ‘B’ annexed hereto for the administration of the said funds;

And it is hereby notified that the scheme set forth in Schedule ‘B’ annexed hereto has, under sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the said Act, been settled for the administration of the said fund and under sub-section (3) of the said section 5 of the said Act, it is hereby further ordered that it shall come into force with effect from 01.04.2016. 01.01.2016 [Amendment notification dated 25.07.2017 scroll below to view]

Contribution of Rs. 20.28 Cr as on 03.07.2017 made by the members of the general public and public/private organizations towards Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund for battle casualties of army and their Next of Kins/dependents etc.

1. Short Title

The Scheme shall be known as the “Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund”. The fund will be administered by D/o Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW), M/o Defence (MoD) and will be implemented through Adjutant’s General Branch (Army HQ). The fund has been created following large number of requests from members of general public who offered to provide assistance to the families of battle casualties especially after Siachen incident in February 2016 in which 10 soldiers were buried in an avalanche.

‘Battle Casualty’ means Battle Casualty (BC) declared in terms of Govt. of India letter No.1(2)/97/D(Pen-C) dated 31.01.2001, as amended from time to time.

Dependent : As per Service Record of the BC.

Fund: Fund means Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund.

Financial Year: Financial Year means the financial year ending with 31st day of March.

The objective of creation of this fund is to provide financial assistance to BCs of Army, their Next of Kins (NoKs)/dependents etc. The funds will not be used for any other purpose.

The assets of the Fund shall include—

i. Voluntary donations from public or private organizations and members of general public. ii. Income from the assets of the fund.

iii. Any other lawful source.

5. Vesting of Assets – The assets of the Fund shall vest in the Treasurer or Charitable Endowments of India under the Scheme in accordance with section 4 of the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890.

(i) Should be a BC.

(ii) BC boarded out of service exclusively due to their disability are eligible for the full amount of grant, irrespective of the percentage of disability.

(iii) Should be a living NoK, nominated in the personal records of the BC held with the respective Record Office.

(iv) In case the war widow has remarried (within or outside the family), she continues to be eligible for the financial assistance.

(v) In case the nominated NoK is the father of the deceased, and the nominated parent has expired, the mother is eligible for the said grant and vice-versa.

7. Management of Fund – The Treasurer of Charitable Endowments for India shall not act in the management or administration of the Fund but subject to any general or special directions given by the Central Government, the management and administration shall be vested in the Managing Committee.

8. Managing Committee

For the management and administration of the Fund, a Managing Committee will be constituted. The composition of the Committee is indicated below:

Chairman	:	Hon’ble Raksha Mantri
Vice-Chairman	:	Hon’ble Raksha Rajya Mantri
Members	:	Chief of Army Staff Defence Secretary Secretary, ESW Secretary, Defence Finance/FA (DS) Adjutant General
Member Secretary	:	DDG Welfare in C&W Dte., AG Branch

9. Tenure of Membership: Membership shall terminate when he/she ceases to hold office/appointment.

10. Use of Fund – It shall be lawful for the Managing Committee to expend the moneys in the Fund for the objects of the fund as mentioned above.

11. Application of Fund – Subject to the provision of the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890 (6 of 1890) the Managing Committee shall have the power to control and administer the Fund and to invest the same or any part, thereof as it may consider necessary having regard to the objects of the fund.

12. Functions of the Managing Committee: Main functions of the Managing Committee will be:

(i) To draw up such rules/guidelines as are necessary for the proper discharge of its responsibilities and the interpretation of such rules.

(ii) To decide the investment and distribution of funds.

(iii ) Invest money, not required for payments, in short term or in fixed deposits.

(iv) To ensure that the accounts are properly maintained and audited.

(v) Approval to engage minimum staff considered necessary for the efficient administration of the fund and other administrative liabilities.

(vi) To consider and approve the Annual Report, Accounts Report and Audit Report of the Fund

13. Meetings of the Managing Committee: The Committee will meet at least once a year to review the functioning of the Fund. An emergency meeting can be convened as and when required.

14. Duties of the Member Secretary: Duties of Member Secretary will include:—

(i) Receipt of donations and their acknowledgement.

(ii) Maintenance of accounts.

(iii) Disbursal of the funds as directed by the Managing Committee.

(iv ) Preparation of agenda points and minutes of meetings of Managing Committee.

(v) Action on day to day correspondence.

(vi) Preparation of the annual balance sheet.

(vii) Preparation of the annual report on the fund.

(viii) The Member Secretary will be responsible for all money received by him pertaining to ABCWF and will ensure that all payments are made electronically and if at all any cheques are to be issued on behalf of the Fund, are duly signed by himself and such persons as the Chairman of the Managing Committee shall nominate.

(i) On receipt the cash/cheque/demand draft, will be deposited in ABCWF account.

(ii) Donation for specific BCs will not be accepted.

(iii) Receipt will be forwarded to the donors after the amount is credited to the account and address of the donor is made available. However, an acknowledgement will be issued, immediately.

(iv) In case of online transfer, the receipt will be forwarded only after receiving the address of the donor.

(v) The account will be maintained in a cash book by Member Secretary of the Managing Committee/Fund.

(vi) The accounts will be checked and countersigned by the nominated officer.

(vii) All cheques pertaining to the account will be signed by two officers i.e. Member Secretary and nominated officer.

(viii) If a donor desire to give donations to certain specific martyrs, he is advised to give cheque in favour of NoK of those martyrs and AG Branch will facilitate its delivery to the NoK.

(i) The list of BCs will be prepared on its occurrence by ADG, MP and forwarded to DDG (Welfare) within a week from the day BCs are declared for immediate release of financial assistance to the beneficiaries. In no case it should take more than a month for release of financial assistance after the receipt of the list of BCs.

The correctness and authenticity of the list will be the responsibility of ADG, MP. No further scrutiny will be undertaken in this regard.

(ii) After receipt of the list of battle casualties from ADG, MP, financial assistance will be released to BCs/NoKs by Member Secretary of the fund out of the corpus as indicated below:-

i.	Battle Casualties (Fatal)	Rs. 2.00 lac
ii	Battle Casualties (Disability 60% and above)	Rs. 2.00 lac
iii.	Battle Casualties invalided out due to disability	Rs. 2.00 lac
iv	Battle Casualties (Disability less than 60%)	Rs. 1.00 lac

(iii) If the amount required for distribution among battle casualties falls short, the same will be made up through dedicated contribution from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives by Adjutant General Branch (Army HQ).

17. Audit of Account: ABCWF will be annually audited by a Registered Chartered Accountant appointed by the Managing Committee and quarterly by Quarterly Audit Board of Officers appointed by DESW/MOD.

(i) The Managing Committee may meet for the conduct of business adjourn and otherwise regulate the meeting and proceedings as may be determined by the Bye-Laws to be framed by the said Committee;

(ii) The quorum for a Meeting of the Managing Committee shall be 1/3rd members personally present at the Meeting. Meeting of the Managing Committee in which a quorum is present shall be competent to exercise all or any of the functions of the said Committee;

(iii) The meeting shall be presided over by the Chairman or in his absence by the Vice-Chairman of the Managing Committee. In case the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman are not present in a meeting, it shall be presided over by the seniormost member;

(iv) Every matter shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting. (v ) The Members Secretary shall have no right to vote; and

(vi) In case of equality of votes the matter shall be decided according to the casting vote of the Chairman of the Committee of meeting, as the case may be.

All administrative matters including approval of staff for administering the fund/administrative expenses will be submitted to Secretary, ESW for decision/approval. Such decisions will be placed before the Managing Committee in its next meeting.

(i) Normally fifteen days notice shall be given for the convening of ordinary meetings of the Managing Committee; and

(ii) Emergency Meetings may, however, be called at any time without prior notice, at a discretion of the Chairman of the Managing Committee.

21. Appointment of Sub-Committee – The Managing Committee, for the purpose of implementing its policies, may appoint an Executive Committee, if required.

22. Members of the Managing Committee not Entitled to Remuneration – Members of the Managing Committee shall not be entitled to any remuneration.

23. Appointment of Staff/Administrative Expenses – Such staff as the Managing Committee may consider necessary shall be appointed by the Managing Committee and their remuneration and the terms of appointment shall be fixed by the Managing Committee. The expenditure on such staff shall be met from the Fund. Need-based administrative expenses (computer/stationery etc.) will also be allowed and met from the Fund.

24. Deposit and Investment of Moneys – The Funds will be invested in any Nationalized Bank.

25. Operation of Accounts – The accounts of the Fund shall be operated by the Member Secretary of the fund on behalf of the Managing Committee of the Fund.

(i) The regular accounts shall be kept of all moneys and properties belonging to the fund and shall be audited by firm of Chartered Accountants or any other recognized auditor, as may be appointed by the Managing Committee.

(ii) The Auditor shall, inter alia, also certify that the expenditure from the Fund has been correctly incurred in accordance with the objects of the Fund for the regulation and management of the Fund.

(iii ) Copies of the Annual Accounts of the Fund duly audited and certified by the auditors of the Fund shall be submitted to the Managing Committee every year.

27. Periodical Reports – Annual Report showing the utilization of the Fund and the annual audited statement of accounts shall be placed before the managing Committee of the Fund by the Member Secretary of the Fund after the close of the financial year, but not later than six months, thereafter.

28. Receipt of Additional Endowments – The Managing Committee may receive any additional endowments, donations or other contribution in augmentation of the moneys and properties of the Fund or for general purposes of the Fund. It may also receive endowments, donations or other contributions for any special purpose connected with this Scheme not inconsistent with or calculated to impede the due working of the provisions of this Scheme.

[F. No.7(5)/2016-Res. II]

SANTOSH, Jt. Secy.

New Delhi, the 17th July, 2017

S.R.O. 26(E).—It has been decided with the approval of competent authority to nominate Deputy Secretary (Res.I), Shri Manmohan Pipal as ‘Treasurer’ of Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund, a newly created under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890. He will carry out the duties of Treasurer in accordance with the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890 and the Charitable Endowments Rules,1942.

[No. 7(5)/2016-Res-II]

SANTOSH, Jt. Secy. (Res.II)