Constitution of Association of Clinical Biochemists of India

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Memorandum

In these present the words standing in the first column of the table, next hereinafter contained, shall bear the meaning set opposite to them respectively, in the second column here of, if not consistent with the subject of context.

The Association
The Association of Clinical Biochemists of India

ACBI Council
The Council consists of Executive Committee members (EC), Advisor, and Chairpersons of various committees, Past Presidents, Past Secretaries, Editor-in-Chief of IJCB, and Convener of Education & Scientific Committee and of Conference Committee, State Representatives. And three representatives from ACBI- Corporate wing.

The Executive Committee (EC)
EC Committee consists of President, Advisor, immediate Past President, vice-Presidents (two), Secretary, immediate Past Secretary, Treasurer, Joint Secretaries (three) and five elected Executive members.

The Office
The Registered Office of the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India, situated at the Department of Biochemistry, Patna Medical College, Patna-96 800004. Members: Founder, Life, Annual, Honorary, Sessional, Associate and Corporate members of the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India.

The Seal
The common seal of the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India, as printed here.

The General Body
The Body comprising of the Founder, Life and Annual Members of the Association of Clinical Biochemists of India.

Terms of

Office
From date of installation of new President during annual conference to the next annual conference when incoming President takes over.

Financial Year
From 1st April to 31st March

The aims and objects of the Association shall be

  • To promote improvement in the health and well-being of the communities it serves through improving the Science and Practice of clinical biochemistry. And for that purpose to hold meetings, congress, seminars, symposia and otherwise to promote and advance the interest of Clinical Biochemistry.
  • To organize and establish institution / training centre for training Clinical Biochemists and to hold examinations and award diplomas.
  • To associate with International and National Organizations such as IFCC APFCB, INSA, NAMS, QCI, ICHA etc.
  • To advise Universities, Governments and Statutory Authorities regarding Biochemistry including Clinical Biochemistry
  • To publish journal(s) related to Clinical Biochemistry and News bulletin covering Association activities.
  • To create awareness in community on importance of biochemical tests in preventive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare.

Article of Association

Annual Member: Membership of the Association is open to Clinical Biochemists and to teachers and research scientists working in medical institution in the discipline of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Immunology, Endocrinology, Nutrition, Pathology, Molecular Biology and allied subjects whose work is related to clinical biochemistry. Those persons who are engaged in the practice of Clinical Biochemistry either in a hospital or in private and possess MIBCB or M.D. or Ph.D. or Diplomat of National Board, M.Sc. in Medical / Clinical Biochemistry or, M.B.B.S. or equivalent qualification can also be taken as member. Annual member shall pay annual subscription as applicable at that time

Founder Member: Those members of the Association who formed themselves into an Association before the inaugural meeting of the Association shall be called Founder Members. The names of founder Members as recorded in Proceedings Book of Executive Committee shall be kept inscribed on a tablet or any other material to be hung in the office.

Life Member: (a) Annual members / Founder members / any person eligible for Annual membership shall pay in one installment an amount fixed by the GB (ten years annual membership fee at any time to become life Member). Life Members shall not be required to pay the annual membership subscription.
(b) Life Membership subscription can also be paid in three annual installments equivalent to Life membership fee together with some surcharge as decided by General Body. Such installment paying member shall become Life Member only after all installments have been fully paid.

Honorary Member: Eminent scientist of Clinical or Medical Biochemistry or of any other discipline may be made an honorary member on the recommendation of the ACBI Council. Honorary member shall enjoy the privilege of Life member except the right to vote or be elected as office bearers, if he/ she is not already a voting member. Honorary member shall not pay membership subscription.

Sessional Member: (a) Any person who has interest in Clinical or Medical Biochemistry and wants to attend the Annual Conference, Convention, Workshop, Symposium etc. being organized by the Association, without becoming member of the Association, can be enrolled as Sessional Member for the session by the Secretary or Organizing Secretary, on payment of an amount equivalent to annual membership subscription. Such members also have to pay registration fee like other members for attending meetings.
(b) Such sessional members shall not enjoy the voting right or right to be elected as office bearers, and are not entitled to receive and other publications free of charge.
(c) The sessional membership subscription paid by the sessional members to the Organizing Secretary shall be remitted to the Head Office. The registration fee and other charges paid by the member shall be retained by the Organizing Secretary.

Associate Member: Those academicians and laboratory professionals who are not eligible for membership but have interest in Clinical Biochemistry can become Associate Member on application and payment of fee equivalent to life membership fee. Such members shall enjoy all privileges of a Life member except voting right and the right to be elected office bearers.

Corporate Member: (a) When a scientific firm dealing in materials required for clinical Biochemistry wants to become a member of this Association, it can be enrolled as Corporate Member on payment of an amount as decided by the General Body from time to time. Like other members, one or more representatives of a firm can attend scientific meetings of ACBI on payment of registration fees as decided by organizer.
(b) Such corporate members shall not pay the Annual subscription. However they are required to pay annual fees to the ACBI - Corporate wing as decided by the wing.
(c) Corporate members shall not enjoy the voting right or right to be elected office bearers. Corporate Members shall form an Electoral College called “ACBI-Corporate Wing”, which shall elect a Convener to manage day-to-day affair of the Corporate Wing. The Convener Shall become a member of Council. Corporate Wing shall also send three representatives to the Council. The Corporate Wing will be Headed by a Chairman elected by Council from Life Members of the Association who will act as liaison between ACBI and Corporate Wing.
(d) All Corporate members shall be members of ACBI-Corporate Wing. The Corporate Wing shall have its separate bank account, Opened by resolution of the Council, which shall be operated jointly by the chairman and the convener.
(e) Corporate member can present papers, sponsor scientific programmer or invite speakers for special lectures in consultation with Secretary or Organising secretary of the conference.
(f) Corporate members can give corporate news, views and scientific work for publication in News Bulletin or IJCB.
(g) Corporate members shall have preference in advertisements in News Bulletin or any other publication of the Association and also in exhibition stall charges.

  • The annual membership subscription shall be an amount to be determined by the General Body from time to time. The current rate of subscription is given in Annexure-3.
  • The annual membership subscription as well as that for life subscription by installment shall be payable in advance by 31st January of the year.
  • An extension of 2 more months shall be allowed to enable the member to pay the dues, after which name shall be removed from membership.

  • Members shall be enrolled by the Council after receiving application in a prescribed Form (Annexure-I/ II) duly filled in by applicant and introduced by a life member of the association after verifying about the standing and eligibility and about trueness of statements made in the application form. The application form will be available from Head Office or can also be down loaded from ACBI Website. The Secretary shall provisionally admit the applicant as member after satisfying himself / herself about eligibility and on receipt of proper membership fee subject to ratification by next Council meeting.
  • The Council shall nevertheless be empowered to elect such other suitable candidate as may apply for becoming member, who from special circumstances, may not be personally known to any life member of the Association.
  • The Sessional members for a Conference/ Symposia etc shall be admitted by the Organising Secretary of the conference or by the General Secretary after receiving proper application and membership fee.

  • Due to death.
  • Acceptance of resignation by the Council.
  • Due to non-payment of membership subscription by March of the year. He or she can become member again on fresh application against previous membership number.
  • The Council shall have power to remove a person from membership due to any one of the following reasons:
    (a) Due to any action by the member which is against the interest of the Association.
    (b) Due to lunacy.

  • The Association shall encourage the formation of a branch of the Association at State / Union territory level where there is a minimum strength of twelve members. There shall be only one branch in one state or territory.
  • The Association shall encourage members of such State/territory where there are less than twelve members to join the adjoining State/Union territory branch.
  • The rules for the management of the State/Union territory branch shall be framed by the State/Union Territory Committee. They shall be consistent with the rules of the Association and shall be approved by the Council. The chief of the Branch shall be known as Chairman.
  • The State/Union Territory Branch shall hold scientific meetings and all activities shall be reported to the General Secretary for publication in News Bulletin.
  • The Association shall encourage members of such State/territory where there are less than twelve members to join the adjoining State/Union territory branch.
  • Branch can also take fee from its members. On request from the Branch Secretary, the Head Office will pay 10 percent of the annual subscription collected from Ordinary Members in the year and from the interest accrued on the amount paid by the Life Members of the branch on furnishing previous year expenditure account subject to a minimum of Rs. 3000.00 and maximum of Rs 10000.00.
  • The Secretary of the branch shall generally be the state representative on the Council of the main organization and shall be elected by branch members. Any Change in Secretary/ Representative should be conveyed to the General Secretary before the GB meeting.
  • Any city within a state having 12 or more members can have a city chapter of ACBI under the state branch. They will have convener but no secretary or chairman.

ACBI would encourage formation of five zonal branches divided broadly on the basis of Government categorization (representing East, West, North, South and Central zones) to promote scientific activities.


(The Northern Zone comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh; The Central Zone, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh; The Eastern Zone, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim, West Bengal and North-Eastern states; The Western Zone, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli; and The Southern Zone, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry).


One executive member will be elected by Zone members or and if no name comes from zones they will be elected from each zone in the General Body Meeting. Such zonal executive member shall act as Secretary of the Zone and will be responsible for holding scientific meetings in the zone. One zonal conference should be held every 2 or 3 years.

Advisor: The Advisor shall see that the work of the Association is done as per the spirit and mandate of the constitution, to keep the tradition and give advice for future development of the organization.

The day-today work of the Association shall be managed by an Executive Committee consisting of the following:

  • President
  • Immediate Past President
  • Vice-President (two)
  • Secretary
  • Joint Secretary (three)
  • Treasurer and
  • Five Executive committee members elected from different zones (Secretary of the Zone)


The Executive Committee shall be responsible to ACBI Council and General Body and carry out work according to decisions taken by Council and GB. It is mandatory for the Executive Committee to have a midterm meeting directly or through video conference / e-mailing. In case it is needed to take important policy decisions on emergency basis in the interest of the association, the executive committee can take decisions which need to be ratified in the next Council and GB meetings.


Note: The Treasurer and one joint Secretary shall be nominated by Council from members of Head Office. Second joint Secretary will be nominated by Secretary from his / her place who will help in the Secretariat work. The third Joint Secretary will be nominated by President-elect from members of his/ her place. In case the Secretary is from Head Office, the Joint Secretary post attached with secretary shall remain in abeyance till the term of the Secretary

-- The ACBI Council Shall Consist of --

  • Executive Committee members
  • Advisor
  • Ex-Officio Members
    • All past Presidents
    • All past General Secretaries
  • Chairpersons of various committees
  • Convener of ACBI - Corporate Wing and three representatives of corporate wing
  • All State / Union Territory Branch Secretary / Representative

-- Function and duties of the Council --

The Council shall perform the following functions :

  • To exercise the rights and powers conferred by the General Body.
  • To manage the funds and approve budget prepared by Treasurer.
  • To consider and approve or reject applications for membership presented by Secretary.
  • To consider the resignation of members.
  • To fulfill the directions of the Association has given by the resolutions of the General Body meeting.
  • To examine and approve the accounts of income and expenditure of the Association of the year and of the just preceding year for which Auditor has given report.
  • To approve budget for the year.
  • To entrust different responsibilities related to the objectives of the association to the members.

Advisor: Advisor will advise the Executive Committee, Council and GB about development of ACBI, ensure that work is done as mandated by constitution and negotiate where his/her help is felt. He/ she shall be a link between Past and Present Presidents of the Association.

President: The President shall preside over the meetings and also guide the activities of the Association. President shall guide and monitor the functioning of various committees formed by the association

Vice-President:The Vice-President (1) is the elected Organizing Secretary for the next conference and shall look after organizing the conference

Vice-President The Secretary shall manage the affairs of the Association according to the directions of the General Body, Council and the President.

Joint Secretary (I): The Joint Secretary(1) will be from the place of Head Quarter and will manage the affairs of Head Office as Administrator.

Joint Secretary (II): The joint secretary (II) shall be from the place of Secretary and shall act on behalf of the Secretary in his absence and carry out such duties as and when assigned to him. In case the Secretary is from Head Office, the Joint Secretary post attached with secretary shall remain in abeyance till the term of the Secretary.

Joint Secretary (III): The Joint Secretary (III) will perform duties as assigned by President.

Treasurer: The Treasurer shall maintain the account of the Association and work in co-ordination with the Secretary and Joint Secretary of Head Office.

Advisor: Advisor shall be appointed by the Council based on the advice by a selection committee consisting of three past Presidents and two past Secretaries nominated by the Council. The tenure of advisor shall be five years and extendable.

President: The Organising Secretary of the Annual Conference shall become President for the term following the Conference after having been installed at the Inaugural function till the next Conference is held.

Vice President - I: The Organising Secretary elected by the General Body to organize next Annual Conference shall be deemed to be elected as Vice President-I. The office of the Vice President will be for one term till he/she succeeds as President.

Vice-President - II shall be elected by voting members along with other office bearers and shall hold office till the next conference.

Secretary, Joint Secretary (i), Treasurer and five Executive zonal members shall be elected by voting members only. Joint Secretary (Head Office) and Treasurer have to be elected from the place of Head Office. Joint Secretary (II) and (III) shall be nominated by Secretary and President respectively The term of office of Secretary, Treasurer and Joint Secretary (I) and (II) (associated with Head office and with Secretary) and Treasurer shall be of 3 years unless they are removed by the GB. The term of office of Jt. Secretary II shall be till the period of the Secretary. The term of office of Joint secretary attached with President shall end with the term of the President. No one can be elected Secretary for more than 2 terms together.

Five Executive Zonal members: Zonal members from different zones shall be elected by members of respective zones or by General Body, if zonal members fails to elect any one and their term shall be of one year and can be re-elected continuously 2 times more on being satisfied by his/ her performance and on filing of nomination each year.

Procedure of Election: The Secretary shall announce the election for the various elective posts as and when they are required to be elected after the end of their term through NEWS BULLETIN published in April-May of the year of Conference and also through ACBI website. The nominations on prescribed form (Annex-IV) for various posts duly signed by proposer, seconder and consent of the nominee should be sent to the President or the Returning Officer if appointed, hereafter called RO, at least 3 months before the Conference. The nominee should be eligible to be elected to the proposed post. The nomination paper must bear the date, signature and name and membership number of the candidate, proposer and seconder. The RO shall scrutinize the nominations for validity as per rules. He/she will place all nominations at the next EC meeting giving reasons for accepting or rejecting the nominations. If there is no nomination for any post, Secretary shall ask for nominations against those posts by a notice pasted at Bulletin Board of the conference as well as by announcement during scientific meetings held prior to the GB meeting. Such nomination must reach President/RO at least 2 hours prior to GB meeting. If there are more than the required numbers of valid nominations for one or more posts, then election for those posts shall be held by secret ballot during the GB meeting. The RO/ Secretary shall keep ballot papers ready with the names of the nominee. The RO shall prepare ballot paper containing names of all valid nominees for different posts for which election has to be conducted and distribute the signed ballot paper to the present voting members (Life and Annual member) after mentioning the voter\92s membership number on the ballot paper and taking his/her signature on it. It is mandatory that the contestant should be present in the GBM at the time of elections. No candidate in absentia will be considered for elections. After the voting is over the ballot papers shall be scrutinized and counted. The result will be announced in the meeting.
The Organizing Secretary for next conference shall be elected from amongst the proposals for holding next conference received from Life Members who fulfill the criteria and shall be deemed to be elected as 1st Vice-President.

-- Required qualifications for various posts --

(1) Organizing Secretary: The Organizing Secretary should be a Life member of ACBI of at least 15 years standing as member and must be in a senior position in the profession having practiced Clinical Biochemistry/ teaching Biochemistry to medical students for at least 15 years. He/ she should have been regularly attending ACBI conferences and has attended at least 10 conferences. He / She should have shown leadership qualities as evidenced by active participation in activities of ACBI either at state or at national level, organizations of scientific meetings and influenced at least 10 biochemists for enrollment as member of ACBI. He/She is held in high steam by members of the Association.

(2) Secretary, Vice President-II:A candidate for these posts should be a life member of at least 10 years standing and have attended at least 7 Annual Conferences of the Association. He/ She should be holding a senior post in his/her work place or has been doing clinical biochemistry for the last 15 years. Candidates should not hold any bias against medical-non-medical members or bias against any one. He / she have shown aptitude for working for the association by taking up some responsibilities of the Association in the past and is ready to devote 2-3 hours daily on Secretarial work. A committee of 5 Presidents and 2 secretaries will scrutinize the nominations for secretary and select one or two most suitable candidates for the secretary\92s job. Election will be held if there is suggestion for two candidates. The committee members should make effort requesting the second nominee to withdraw. If withdrawal does not take place, election will be held as per rule.

(3) Joint Secretaries and Treasurer:should be a Life member of at least 8 years duration and should have attended at least 5 Annual Conferences in the last 8 years.

(4) Five Elected Committee Zonal Members: should be a Life Member of at least 5 years standing and who have attended at least 3 conferences in the last 4 years.

(4) Five Elected Committee Zonal Members:: should be a life member and is well known to state branch members and who has attended conferences regularly in the last 5 years and is fairly active in Association activities.

-- Who can vote for the above Elected Posts --

Only Life Members and Annual Members (who have paid up-to-date subscription) can vote.

Method of election of Organizing Secretary for next conference: At the time of calling nominations for election for various posts, the Secretary shall also call for proposals from members who are qualified to become organizing secretary / President, for hosting next two annual conferences on a prescribed form (Annexure - V). The proposal shall have a supporting letter from Head of the Institution hosting the conference or from the Chairman of the state branch. All proposals received in time shall be evaluated by a committee appointed by Council as per rules and the recommendation of the committee is presented in the ACBI Council and later in GB. The organizing Secretary should be ready to sign an MOU with ACBI to abide by all the rules and guidelines prescribed by ACBI in this regard.

  • The Association shall publish a journal named INDIAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL BIOCHEMISTRY.
  • The Journal shall be edited by a Board of Editors consisting of an Editor-in-Chief and eminent nominated members.
  • The Editor-in-Chief shall be the ex-officio member of the Council.
  • The Board shall hold office for a period of three years which can be renewed at the end of the term.
  • The Editor-in-Chief may nominate a Managing or Executive Editor and assign duty for publication of the journal.
  • For any change in policy matter, Editor-in-Chief shall consult members of the Editorial Board by e-mail or by post or by meeting. One meeting of the Editorial Board, preferably during National ACBI conference, has to be called by the Editor-in-chief for reviewing the publication work and for giving necessary directions. A report of proceedings of the meeting has to be submitted to the Secretary during the conference for consideration by the Executive Council

  • The annual General Body Meeting of the Association shall be held during the period of the Annual Conference once in a year. Fifteen days notice in writing shall be given to every member by the Secretary in consultation with the President through News Bulletin or by post.
  • The General Secretary shall present report of the working of the Association at the General Body Meeting.

On the requisition by one-third voting members, the President shall call the special GB meeting within one month. Only those subjects will be discussed in the requisition meeting which is given in the agenda circulated with the requisition.

The General body shall perform the following functions:

  • To elect office bearers of the council.
  • To make amendments in the Articles of the Association,
  • To appoint auditors or to delegate this power to the President,
  • To give directions to the council,
  • The decision of the venue of the next two annual Conferences shall be ratified by the General Body.

  • The Annual conference shall generally be held in the last week of December each year, or at a suitable time as decided by G.B. but before 31st March of next year.
  • At the time of the conference, besides conducting official business, scientific papers shall be presented. Workshops, Symposia, Group-discussions, Popular lecturers & Scientific exhibition shall generally be arranged.

The meeting of the Council shall be held at least twice a year during the conference, one before GB meeting and another after GB meeting with newly elected members. At least fifteen days notice for the meeting has to be given by the Secretary in consultation with the President. Additional meeting or consultation can be arranged via electronic media.

It shall be published by Secretary/ Head Office as decided by EC at least twice a year or more frequently.

The income of the Association shall be from the following sources.

  • Subscription paid by its members.
  • Donations.
  • Share from savings from conferences.
  • Grant by Government, Universities etc.
  • Advertisement.
  • Income from Investments.
  • Any other source approved by the General Body.

The funds of the Association shall be kept in a scheduled bank at the Head Quarter. Withdrawals will be made by joint signatures of the Treasurer and the General Secretary/Joint Secretary (Head Quarter).

The Treasurer can invest part of the fund in fixed deposits of scheduled banks and recognized organizations giving assured income in order to achieve more interest. All fixed deposit accounts shall be jointly operated by authorized signatories of the main account.

Any excess over 25% of the income of the year which remains after expenditure shall form a CORPUS FUND for specific purposes such as:

  • For IJCB to aid regular publication of Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry,
  • Establishment of Central Library and Research Centre,
  • Construction of Office Building of the Association and
  • Other useful purposes as prescribed in the Objects of the Association.

  • As per provision of the By-laws of the Association, collection on account of life membership fees being one time receipt for the entire tenure of life of the members concerned be taken as CORPUS FUND of the ASSOCIATION and be not treated receipt of revenue nature. Further the income accrued or received from investment of the said Life membership fee is taken as the income of the Association.
  • Any earmarked donation towards any specific purposes or as Corpus of the Association is similarly dealt with in the accounts of the Association.

Movable and immovable Properties of the Association shall remain vested in the Council.

Regular written accounts of all income and expenditure shall be maintained by the Treasurer and it shall be duly audited every year by a Chartered Accountant. The report must be placed before the ACBI Council for approval.

Dissolution of the Association, if necessary, will be by passing a resolution in the General Body Meeting with 60 per cent majority of members present. Property of the Association after dissolution will be utilized towards payment of debts and liabilities of the Association and the balance, if any, will not be distributed amongst the members but will be given to some other societies with similar objectives in accordance with a resolution passed in the General Body Meeting with 60 % majority of members.

  • Amendments and alterations in the Articles of the Association, if necessary, will be by passing a resolution in the General Body Meeting with two-third majority present in the General Body meeting.
  • Amendment proposals shall be circulated amongst the members by the Secretary before being placed in the General Body.

The Judiciary at Patna (Head Quarter of the Association) only shall have jurisdiction for redressed of disputes between the Association and others.

The constitution was adopted at the First General Body meeting of the founder members held at Patna on the 18th January 1975 and amended at the Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth , Eighteenth, thirty-sixth and 39th. General Body meetings held at Madras, Baroda, Bombay, Manipal, Delhi, Wardha, Kottayam, Kochi, Ranchi on 2nd February 1976, 7th January 197, 27th December 1978, 20th December 1980, 20th December 1982, 22nd February 1992, 29th January 1994, 29th January 1994, 26th December 1996, 5th. November 2009 and 13th. December 2012 respectively.

This constitution was adopted at 39th. GB meeting held on 13 December 2012 at Ranch and supersedes all the previous versions.