Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Bombay
Department Council Constitution
First Draft – March 2013
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1. Objective:
 To foster and develop all academic as well as non-academic student activities in the Department
 Identify student issues and promote discussion on them
 To develop a well-informed, articulate and participative student community life, and to increase
awareness about Civil Engineering and promote social interaction among students
2. Official Year:
 The official year for all working shall be from the first day of April to the thirty-first day of March of
the ensuing Calendar Year. This is also the period during which student officials hold tenure.
3. Definitions:
 ‘Student’ means any bona fide student of Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay
 ‘Year’ means the official year as defined above
 ‘Department’ means Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay
 ‘Office/Office Bearer’ refers to any of the below mentioned student office
 ‘Member’ means elected/nominated member of the concerned council for the same year
 ‘HoD/President’ means the Head, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay
 ‘GSAA’ refers to the General Secretary, Academic Affairs under Students’ Gymkhana, IIT Bombay
4. Student Office Bearers in the Department:
Department Council
 Department General Secretary [1 post]
 MTech Representative [1 post]
 PhD Representative [1 post]
 Class Representatives [1 post each for each division of UG II year, III year, IV year]
 Alumni and Seminar Secretary [1 post]
 General Secretary of Civil Engineering Society (Student) [1 post]
 Student Coordinators of Civil Engineering Society [2 posts]
 Media Partners [2 posts]
Web Council (nominated)
 Web Nominee [1 post]
Aakaar Council
 The structure, organization and function of this council for the Civil Engineering Department
Technical Festival, Aakaar shall be as per the discussion and agreement of the Aakaar OC and the
Faculty-in-charge of Aakaar.
Note:
1. The Department Council is also responsible for the work related to various posts at the Civil
Engineering Society.
2. The Department General Secretary can change the structure of the department council with due
permission from the HOD, stating the valid reasons for doing the same.
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5. Rules and eligibility for serving as any of the above office bearer:
 During a given year, a student can serve in a maximum of one of the posts of the department listed
above, with exception of SCE G.Sec who also holds the post of AAKAAR Hospitality Manager.
 A student already holding any of the below mentioned offices cannot simultaneously hold any of the
above offices in a given year:
 Member of the Institute Council / Elected Body
 Member of the Hostel Council / Elected Body
 Member of the Placement Team
 Member of the Core team of any Independent Body
 Chief Editor / Executive Editor of any Media Body
 Technic Overall Co-ordinator
 Science Club Secretary
 A student who has exhibited bad conduct (for example, been punished for wrongdoing by a
Disciplinary Action Committee) may be prohibited from serving for any of the above office. The
decision of the HoD will be final and binding in all such cases
 A student, who has an active backlog/dropped course as of March of a given year, will be unable to
serve for any of the above office in the year immediately following (April of that year to March of the
next). The following points may be noted about the definition of an active backlog:
 An active backlog is an XX/FR in any compulsory course, including zero credit courses, that has not
been cleared as of March
 For a BTech, XX/FR in a minor course/honors/elective course will not be considered an active backlog
 For a DD, an XX/FR in a minor/elective course will not be considered an active backlog. However, an
XX/FR in an honors course will be considered an active backlog
 A dropped compulsory course for any student will be considered an active backlog
 A dropped minor/honors course for any student will not be considered an active backlog
 NP (if the only backlog) in an NSO/NSS/NCC active as of March will not be counted
 A student can contest for any of the offices mentioned above provided s/he falls in the electorate
(described below) for the concerned office.
5.1 Eligibility: A student must complete minimum amount of time (mentioned below) in Institute, in order to
be eligible for contesting elections or filing nomination for a particular post
Department General Secretary – Must have completed atleast 5 Semesters
Mtech Representative, PG Cult/Sport Representative – Must have completed atleast 1 semester (MTech
Student)
General Secretary of CES, Department Alumni and Seminar Secretary, Press Editors – Must have completed
atleast 3 semesters
Student Coordinators of CES, Web Nominee – Must have completed atleast 1 semester
Note: To override any of the above rules, the Department General Secretary must obtain permission from
the HOD in the form of a letter, clearly stating the credible reason for the proposed infringement of the
rule(s).
6. Electorate:
 The electorate for the election of the Department General Secretary and SCE General Secretary will be
entire student community of the department.
 The electorate for the election of Class Representative will be the respective batches (divisions) of the
candidate.
 The electorate for the election of MTech Representative will be the MTech students of the Department.
 The electorate for the election of PhD Representative will be the PhD students of the department
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7. Responsibilities of Office Bearers:
Note: Unless amended with the unanimous assent of all the council members and HoD, an office bearer is
expected to fulfill at least (besides all the other proposed in the Manifesto) the following responsibilities
failing to which impeachment (refer to section 8 below) can be called for
7.1 Department General Secretary:
 Represent Department’s student body at all meetings/events at the department (DUGC/DPGC) as well
as Institute level (DGSC)
 Address student complaints regarding all issues, academic as well as non‐academic
 Ensure the timely evaluation of mid-sem papers of students having backlogs.
 Propose Time Table to Time Table Coordinator (TTC) to ensure minimum slot clashes for students
with backlog
 Ensure smooth functioning of various Department activities- Department and Society events and
Aakaar.
 Coordinate with council members to maintain and update the Department Webpage
 Organize work-visits to give an Industrial Exposure to students, if necessary
 Organize academic orientation at the beginning of the semester for freshmen
 Ensure timely and fair allotment of BTP/DDP/SLP
 Organize lab orientations for Freshmen in coordination with SAB member of department
 Ensure Internship coordinator and Placement Coordinator elections are carried out in a free and fair
manner as per the instructions from Dean AP and Professor In-charge, Placements
 Organize at least one GBM in the given year of all the elected department council members and inform
the student community of the same at least 3 days in advance (including Department Council,
Placement and Internship Coordinators)
7.2 MTech Representative
 Representation of MTech students in Society, Department Post Graduation Committee (DPGC) and
institute MTech representatives meeting
 To address academic as well as non academic issues of MTech students (such as MTP allocation,
mentorship program, TA allotment, etc.)
 To organize academic and Society orientation at the beginning of academic year for MTech freshmen
 To organize workshops/lecture series regarding softwares by experts in coordination with Society
council
 Coordinate with DGSec and PhD representative to organize Research Scholar Symposium.
 To take post midsem Faculty feedbacks from PG students
 To maintain "Civil Engineering Research Database" (in process), of department and update the same
on CEA Website.
7.3 PG Cult Representative:
 Should ensure that the information regarding every cultural event is timely conveyed to everyone,
through effective and proper channel.
 Should ensure proper organization of all cultural events within the department by maintaining proper
co-ordination with the institute nominees and our departmental committee.
 Should organize orientation for PG freshmen regarding all the cultural events and institute clubs at
departmental level.
7.4 PG Sports representative:
 To make aware all Civil PG's regarding various sports facilities, events and training camps etc.
 Arranging for sports facilities, meetings, planning for date of sports event.
 Allotting practice slot and hospitality for PG's of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay
 Being a member of PG council, Sports Secretary has responsibility to conducts sports event for
Departments and Institute level also.
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7.5 PhD Representative
 Representation of PhD students in Society council, Department Post Graduation Committee (DPGC)
and institute PhD representatives body (RSF)
 Nominate and lead a team to plan and execute RSS in coordination with other council members
 Coordinate with web nominee to regularly update department website especially information regarding
the different lab facilities and ongoing projects under each faculty member.
 Prepare and maintain a Lab Brochure along with Department Brochure to publicize the research status
of the department
 Organize Lab Orientation Program for 1st year PhD student
 Organize Workshop/Lecture Series regarding simulation software/tools by experts
 Put forth infrastructural and other requirements related to labs before concerned committees
7.6 Class Representative
 Coordinate with Department General Secretary to address all the academic and non-academic issues
such as
 Carry out Mid-semester evaluation with approval of the concerned faculty (the method of carrying out
evaluation is left at the discretion of the Class Representatives)
 Address all the registration and other curriculum related queries
 Coordinate with the professors or students to make all the notes and study material available for the
batch
 Try to reschedule classes as per the convenience of the students and concerned faculty members
 Keep everyone in the batch informed about all the relevant issues
 Create a Google group to convey important information to the whole batch
 Assist entire council in organizing all the events throughout the year
7.7 General Secretary of the Civil Engineering Society (Student):
 Maintain Society Membership database and ensure regular update of the same
 Organize Society orientation program for both PG and UG to publicize the activities of the society and
invite applications for membership
 Organize number of informal activities (such as Kurta Day, Formal Day, Department trip, Valedictory
function, etc.) to promote interaction among students and members.
 Coordinate with web nominee to update and maintain the Society website and publicize various events
of the Society
 Hospitality Manager at Aakaar:
 Ensure that the new Overall Coordinator is selected by the old team by 15th April
 Convene monthly meetings of Society council (including PG representatives) to prepare the agenda
and follow up on the various Society activities proposed/initiated by his/her council
 To initiate/follow-up on infrastructural changes in the Department if needed.
7.7.1 The previous year Aakaar team will elect Aakaar OC.
7.8 Student Co-ordinators: (CEA secretary formerly)
 Coordinate with Secretary (student) to organize Freshmen orientation
 Coordinate with Department Alumni and Seminar Secretary to ensure smooth execution of activities
like ‘Industrial Perspective Lecture Series’ and Alumni Department Visit
 Organize a department trip and ensure that a Department T-shirt is made at a suitable time (as per the
students’ feedback)
 Organize events like Kurta Day, Formal Day, Faculty-student informal session, etc. to promote healthy
interaction among department students and faculty members
 Extend full assistance in Aakaar and ensure maximum participation of students in all Society activities
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7.9 Department Alumni and Seminar Secretary
 Planning & Execution of 'Department Visits' of Alumni on the Institute Alumni Day in December Making of 'Wish-List' of the Department for the same.
 Ensure smooth functioning of ‘Industrial Perspective Lecture Series’
 Organizing 'Buddy Talk' sessions by recent pass-outs addressing placement issues of final year
students in coordination with Department Placement Coordinator
 Maintain a record of the passing out batch with their immediate plans after passing out and ensure
regular updating of the Alumni Database
 Representation of Department at all SARC meetings and events
 Execute mentor-ship program for placement students by recent pass out alumnus.
 Cooperate with the Class Representatives and organize work/site visits.
 Updating list of seminars on CEA webpage on a regular basis.
7.10 Press Editors
 Bring out at least one edition of ‘Off-Shore’ per semester covering interesting articles on civil
engineering in the world*
 Coordinate with other council members to provide and update content for Department website
 Invite articles from the entire student community as well as alumni for each edition
 Publish atleast one of ‘Blueprint’ or ‘Yellow’ with their appropriate content*
 Maintain a Civil Engineering database and survey reports, which should be kept confidential.
 Contact relevant media bodies to publicize Aakaar; Prepare a report on Aakaar and try to get it
published in a recognized Civil Engineering related weekly/bimonthly magazine
*Note: The details about ‘Off-Shore’, ‘Blueprint’ and ‘Yellow’ must be obtained from the contemporary
Press Editors.
7.11 Web Nominee
 Responsible for updating and maintaining the department website as required with help of Web Master
(faculty coordinator for the website) and other council members
 Maintaining and planning out updates for the Department website and ensuring data collection from
concerned council members
 Responsible for the creating and maintaining websites for all events such as Aakaar, Media, etc.
8 Impeachment of an Office Bearer:
8.1 Department General Secretary
 Students can send in a request for impeachment to the GSAA. The plea should have signatures of at
least 15% of the students from each batch OR 70% of a particular batch OR 33% of the electorate
 The matter will be then taken to the HoD if the request is found to be genuine or if the GSAA himself
thinks that the work done by the DGsec is not satisfactory
 The DGsec will be given a chance to defend himself in front of a committee containing the HoD,
GSAA and the council
 The authority of impeaching the DGsec is with the HoD and the decision of the HoD would be
considered final
8.2 All other Offices
 8.2.1 Impeachment by the Department General Secretary:
The Department General Secretary is empowered to impeach a member of the council on valid
grounds by means of a letter written to the HOD/Faculty-in charge Society clearly mentioning the
context behind the impeachment and a letter circulated to all the members of the council regarding
the same
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 8.2.2 Impeachment by means of GBM:
1. For offices with entire student community as the electorate (refer to section 6) at
least 40 members representing all batches; and for other offices (CR, MTech and
PhD Representative) at least one-third of the electorate should be present in the
General Body Meeting for the impeachment motion to be considered
2. The impeachment motion should be proposed by a member of GBM mentioning
the grounds for the motion and same should be supported by at least 6 members
from the GBM to initiate the process
3. After the process is initiated, a secret ballot voting shall be organized by the
Department General Secretary (or the appointed Chair of the GBM) and all the
members present in the GBM shall have the right to vote
4. Simple Majority shall be considered to evaluate the result of the motion
Note: For any of the offices, all the office bearers are required to attend the GBM and are answerable.
Absence of any office bearer from GBM without genuine reasons shall immediately lead to his/her
impeachment motion.
9 Amendments
Any amendment in the constitution should involve a thorough discussion in the Department Council, with exCouncil members, followed by an approval of HoD*.
The ‘Year’ and the ‘People’ involved in amendments of the Constitution should be mentioned in Credits
Section
*- Approval must be an application signed by HoD involving all the amendments need to be done along with
reasons for doing the same.
Credits
Drafted byNamrata Singh (Press Editor 12-13)
Suryansh Shrivastav (Press Editor 12-13)
Jaymin Kotecha (Dept. Gen Secretary 12-13)
Inputs byDepartment Council 2012-13
Naveen Jangir (CEA (Now SCE) GSec 2011-12)
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