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THE CONSTITUTION OF
THE HONG KONG INTER-SCHOOL DEBATING ORGANISATION
(2015 Draft)
ARTICLE 1 ESTABLISHMENT
The Hong Kong Inter-school Debating Organisation is hereby established.
ARTICLE 2 - NAME
The English name of the Organisation shall be HONG KONG INTER-SCHOOL
DEBATING ORGANISATION, abbreviated as HKIDO. The Chinese name of the
Organisation shall be . There is no abbreviation for the Chinese
name of the Organisation. The Organisation shall also be known under the alias
HONG KONG INTERSCHOOL DEBATING ORGANIZATION.
ARTICLE 3 INTERPRETATION
In this Constitution, unless the context otherwise requires:Advisory Panel means the Advisory Panel of the Hong Kong Inter-school Debating
Organisation;
the Council, means the Council of the Hong Kong Inter-school Debating
Organisation;
day of office means a day within a Session, with the first day of office being 1 st
October each year;
Director means the Director of the Hong Kong Inter-school Debating Organisation,
who also acts as the Head Advisor of the Advisory Panel;
events means any activity, competition, tournament, lecture, or any other event
organised by the Organisation;
Executive Committee, or ExCo in short, means the Executive Committee of the
Hong Kong Inter-school Debating Organisation;
Honorary Treasurer means the Honorary Treasurer of the Hong Kong Inter-school
Debating Organisation;
officials means collectively the personnel as appointed to contribute to the organs of
Hong Kong Inter-school Debating Organisation as set out in Article 8.
the Organisation means the entirety of Hong Kong Inter-school Debating
Organisation;
President means the President of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Interschool Debating Organisation;
Treasurer means the Treasurer of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Interschool Debating Organisation;
registered member, member, or member school means a school which has
registered as a member under Article 6;
Session means the time period as set out in Article 5;
school means any school registered under Section 13 of the Education Ordinance
(Cap. 279);
Societies Office means the Societies Office of the Hong Kong Police Force;
Sub-Committee, or SubCom in short, means the Sub-Committee to the Executive
Committee of the Hong Kong Inter-school Debating Organisation;
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(3) Quorum
Fifty percent of the members shall form the quorum at the Council meeting.
(4) Chairmanship
The Council meeting shall be presided over by the Director. He shall hold the Council
meeting in such way as to ensure the meeting proceeds in a fair and just manner.
(5) Substantive motions
All affairs to be discussed in the Council meeting shall be presented as substantive
motions. Such motions may be moved and seconded by any member, Executive
Committee member, advisor or the Director.
(6) Voting rights
Every member shall be entitled to one vote on all motions presented before the
Council. Executive Committee members, sub-committee members, the Honorary
Treasurer and Advisors shall not have voting rights. The Director shall cast the
deciding vote only when voting comes to a draw.
(7) Speaking rights
Representatives from member schools, Executive Committee members, subcommittee members, the Honorary Treasurer, Advisors and the Director shall be
entitled to speaking rights on all motions presented before the Council.
(8) Proceedings
Voting on motions shall take place in the form of
(a) show of hands;
(b) rising vote;
(c) anonymous ballots; or
(d) registered ballots.
Substantive motions shall be carried with a simple majority of all members present.
Motions regarding
(i) amendments of this Constitution;
(ii) the removal from office of any of the officials; and
(iii) the dissolution of the Organisation,
shall be carried only by a two-thirds majority of all members present.
(9) Decisions final
All decisions arising from voting in Council shall be final.
(10) Extraordinary Council meetings
meetings
(vii) To act as a signatory for all bank accounts of the Organisation; and
(viii) To perform duties as stipulated in this Constitution.
(b) VICE PRESIDENT:
To assist the Chairperson in all his duties and shall be the acting President of the
Executive Committee in the absence of the President.
(c) TREASURER:
(i) To be responsible for and keeping account of all financial affairs;
(ii) To prepare the Annual Budget for adoption at Council meetings;
(iii) To prepare the Financial Report at the end of his Session for adoption at the
Council meeting; and
(iv) To act as a signatory for all bank accounts of the Organisation.
(d) INTERNAL SECRETARY:
To take minutes for all Executive Committee and Council meetings;
(i) To prepare and keep records of all internal correspondences of the Organisation.
(e) EXTERNAL SECRETARY:
(i) To be responsible for all external correspondences;
(ii) To prepare and keep records of all external correspondences of the Organisation.
(f) WEBMASTER:
(i) To maintain the official website and social media pages of the Organisation, in
such manner that all information published are up-to-date and accurate;
(ii) To advise the Executive Committee on any technical and computer-related
matters;
(iii) To be responsible for designs on the official websites or other media.
(g) PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR:
(i) To be responsible for all the publicity work of the Organisation.
(ii) To seek sponsorships.
(iii) To promote the image of the Organisation.
(h) TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR:
(i) To be responsible for organizing the tournaments of the Organisation;
(ii) To oversee the logistic management, event operations and scheduling of
tournaments;
(iii) To assist the Adjudication Core (if any) in tournaments in their work, including
but not limited to tabulation of results; and
(iv) To make available the written Tournament Rules and relevant policies on the
Organisations website and social media pages, and notify members of the
publication of such materials.
(6) Order of succession
Should circumstances arise such that the President is unable to perform his duties, the
officials of the Executive Committee shall take the position of acting President in the
order of
(i) Vice President,
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Only students from member schools shall be eligible to take office in the Executive
Committee. Such persons must be studying in his school for the entirety of the
Session he is about to take office in.
(3) Appointment
The Executive Committee shall select and appoint SubCom members from a pool of
candidates openly recruited from member schools.
(4) Term limit
The term period for SubCom shall last for one Session only. There shall be no term
limit for all SubCom members.
(5) Priority selection as succeeding ExCo member
SubCom members of a Session shall enjoy priority over other candidates in the
selection of Executive Committee members for the succeeding Session.
(6) Duties
SubCom members shall provide operational support to the Executive Committee in
affairs including but not limited to logistical arrangements, on-site operations, and coordination during events.
(7) Removal from office
A SubCom member may be removed from office if
(a) his resignation is received with a motion carried by a simple majority in the
Executive Committee;
(c) a vote of no confidence is cast by a simple majority in the Executive Committee;
or
(d) a vote of no confidence is cast by a two-thirds majority in the Council.
ARTICLE 15 - FINANCE
(1) The source of the Organisation's finance shall come from Annual Subscription
Fees, the credit balance of the previous years and donations and sponsorships
from outside bodies.
(2) The finance of the Organisation shall be used on the activities of the Organisation
only.
(3) The finance balance of the Organisation shall be dealt with session by session.
Any debts or liabilities of the Organisation shall be the sole responsibility of the
Executive Committee of the session during which the debts and liabilities were
incurred. Any surplus shall be transferred to the Executive Committee of the next
session.
(4) The Treasurer shall convey an oral financial report, including the balance in bank
and the cash in hand in each Executive Committee meeting, and present a written
financial report at the year-end Council meeting.
(5) All bank accounts of the Organisation shall be opened under the name HONG
KONG INTER-SCHOOL DEBATING ORGANISATION. The signatories of
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