Rules of SDIA

Name

The Association shall be known as the “Singapore Driving Instructors’ Association”.

Registered Office

The place of business of the Association shall be at “No.1-D Hoe Chiang Road, Singapore 0208” or such other address as may subsequently be decided upon by the committee and approved by the Registrar of Societies. The Association shall carry out its activities only in places and premises which have the prior written approval from the relevant authorities, where necessary.

Objective

The objective of the association is to strengthen the bonds of friendship and co-operation among its members and to promote the common material, social and educational welfare of its members.

Membership

Any person residing in Singapore engaged in the profession as a driving instructor shall be eligible to apply for membership of the Association.
Any person wishing to join the Association should submit his name to the Honorary Secretary who shall submit it to the Committee for approval at its next meeting. The Committee may at its discretion reject any application without assigning any reason therefore.

Entrance Fees, Subscriptions and Arrears

Subject to alteration by Annual or Extraordinary General Meetings of members, the subscriptions payable shall be as follows:

The Entrance fee shall be SGD $50/- each member payable within one week of election to membership, in default of which membership may be cancelled by order of the Committee.
The Monthly subscription shall be SGD $2/- each member payable within seven (7) days of the first day of the month. If a member falls into arrears with his subscriptions or other dues, he shall be informed immediately by the Honorary Treasurer.

If he fails to settle his arrears within one week of their becoming due, the President may order that his name be posted on the Association’s notice board and that he be denied the privileges of membership until he settles his account. If he falls into arrears for more than two (2) months’ dues, he will automatically cease to be a member and the Committee may take legal action against him provided that they are satisfied that he has received due notice of his debts.

Management – General Meetings

The management of the Association is vested in a general meeting of the members presided over by the President. At least one quarter of the total membership of the Association must be present at a general meeting for its proceedings to be valid.
An annual general meeting will be held in January of each year. At other times a general meeting must be called by the President on the request in writing of at least one half of total membership and may be called at any time by order of the Committee.
At least two weeks’ notice will be given of an annual general meeting and at least one week’s notice of any other general meeting and particulars of the agenda of the annual general meeting will be posted on the association’s notice board two weeks in advance of the meeting.The following points will be considered at the annual general meeting:

The previous year’s account and report of the Committee.
The election of office-bearers for the following term.

Any member who wishes to place an item on the agenda of a general meeting may do so provided he gives notice to the Honorary Secretary one week before the meeting is due to be held.

Management Committee

A Committee consisting of the following shall be elected at alternate annual general meeting:

President
Vice Presidents x 3
Honorary Secretary
Assistant Secretary x 2
Honorary Treasurer
Assistant Treasurer
Committee Members x 10

Names for the above offices shall be proposed and seconded at the annual general meeting and election will follow on a simple majority vote of the members. All office-bearers except the Honorary Treasurer may be re-elected to the same post for a consecutive term of office. The term of office of the Committee is two years.
A Committee meeting shall be held at least once a month after four (4) days notice to Committee members. The President may call a Committee meeting at any time by giving two (2) days notice. At least one half of the Committee members must be present for its proceedings to be valid.
The duty of the Committee is to organise and supervise the daily activities of the Association and to make decisions on matters, affecting its running when the general meeting is not sitting. It may not act contrary to the expressed wishes of the general meeting without prior reference to it and it always remains sub-ordinate to the general meeting.
The Committee has the power to authorise the expenditure of a sum not exceeding SGD $1,000/- from the Association’s funds for the Association’s purposes.

Office Bearers

The duties of the office-bearers are as follows:

The President shall act as Chairman at all General and Committee Meetings. He shall also represent the Association in its dealings with outside persons.
The Vice-President shall deputise for the President in the latter’s absence.
The Honorary Secretary shall keep all records, except financial records of the Association and shall be responsible for their correctness. He shall keep minutes of all General and Committee Meetings.
The Honorary Treasurer shall keep all funds, collect and disburse all moneys on behalf of the Association. He shall keep an account of all monetary transactions and shall be responsible for their correction. He is authorised to expend up to SGD $30/- per month for petty expenses on behalf of the Association. He will not keep more than SGD $30/- in the form of cash, and money in excess of this will be deposited in a bank to be named by the Committee. Cheques etc. for withdrawals from the bank will be signed by any three of the following four office bearers; (President, Vice- President, Secretary or Treasurer).
Any member of the Committee absenting himself from three meetings consecutively without satisfactory explanation shall be deemed to have withdrawn from the Committee, and a successor may be co-opted by the Committee to serve until the next annual general meeting.

Audit

Two persons, not members of the Committee will be elected as Honorary Auditors at each annual general meeting, will hold office for one year only and may not be re-elected. They will be required to audit each year’s account and present a report upon them to the annual general meeting. They may be required by the President to audit the society’s accounts for any period within their tenure of office at any date and make a report to the committee. For the purposes of this rule, the financial year of the Association shall end on the 31st day of December each year.

Trustees

If the Association at any time acquire any immovable property, such property shall be vested in Trustees subject to a declaration of trust. Any trustee may at any time resign his trusteeship. If a trustee dies or becomes a lunatic or of unsound mind or moves permanently or is absent from the Colony for a period of one year, he shall deemed to have resigned his trusteeship. If a trustee is guilty of misconduct of such a kind as to render it undesirable that he continue as a trustee, a General Meeting may remove him from his trusteeship. Vacancies in the trusteeship may be filled at a General Meeting, but so that the number shall not be greater than five or less than two. Notice of any proposal to remove a trustee from his trusteeship or to appoint a new trustee to fill a vacancy must be given by affixing in the premises of the Club a document containing such proposal at least two weeks before the meeting at which the proposal is to be discussed. The result of such meeting shall then be notified to the Registrar of Societies for approval.

Visitors

There shall be 2 classes of visitors:

Visiting Members – Residents in Singapore shall not be admitted as Visiting members. A Visiting member shall be admitted to the privileges of this Association but shall not be admitted for a period exceeding one (1) week at a time, nor shall he be admitted more than 6 times in any one year.
Guests – Residents in Singapore may be admitted into the premises of this Association but shall not be admitted to the privileges of the Association, nor shall they be admitted into the premises for more than 6 times a year. These six (6) visits will not be on consecutive days or in consecutive weeks.

A Visitor’s Book shall be kept, in which shall be entered the names of all visiting members together with the signatures of the members nominating them and the dates of their visits. No person shall be a visiting member or guest till his name has been entered in this Book.

Prohibitions

Gambling of any kind and the playing of poker, whether for stakes or not, are forbidden on the Association’s premises. The introduction of material for gambling or opium smoking and of prostitutes and bad characters into the premises are prohibited.
The funds of the Association shall not be used to pay the fines of members who have been convicted in Court.

Amendments to Rules

No alterations or additions to these rules shall be made except at a General
Meeting, and they shall not come into force without the prior sanction of the Registrar of Societies.

Interpretation

In the event of any question or matter arising out of any point which is not expressly provided for in the rules, the Committee shall have power to use their own discretion.

Dissolution

In this Rule, member means anyone who is, in accordance with the Rules of the Association, entitled to vote.

The Association shall not be dissolved, except with the consent of not less than 5/6th of the members of the Association expressed, either in person or by proxy at a General Meeting convened for the purpose, or by postal vote.
In the event of the Association being dissolved as provided shows, all debts and liabilities legally incurred on behalf of the Association shall be fully discharged, and the remaining funds will be divided amongst members in proportion to their years of membership.
Notice of dissolution will be given within 14 days of the dissolution to the Registrar of Societies.