User:Bitspilanisu/BITS Pilani Students' Union

BITS Pilani Students' Union The Students’ Union is an umbrella student organization of the University of BITS Pilani, Rajasthan,India. It exists to represent students in the University's decision-making, to act as the voice for students, and to provide direct services to the student body. The Union strives to protect the students and promotes all activities relating to academic awareness, cultural affluence, physical fitness and general welfare of the students. All regular students of BITS Pilani excluding Ph.D., M.E. (Collab.) and M. Phil students are members of the Union and constitute the General Body. The General Body members can attend any Union Council meeting and direct their queries to the Union Council.

Elections
The Union Council is elected to power at the start of each academic year through a process of closed ballot elections. The elections are held during the month of August every year. The elections are overseen by the Election Commission, which also is a student body. The elections are preceded by a period of door-to-door campaigning by each of the candidates where they seek to explain their manifesto points to the members of the Student Union .There is also an Informational Seminar and an Auditorium Debate which happen during the campaigning period. The General Body attends the same in order to better understand the candidates and their manifesto points.

Union Council
The Union Council ensures the smooth functioning of the Students’ Union by regulating the working of the various clubs and departments .Union Council is a body of elected representatives who represent students who are members of the students' union. Union Council has the power to hold the Union's Officers to account and to create new Union policies. Any motion initiated by at least one-third of the General Body members and passed by at least two-thirds of the General Body is binding upon the Union Council and all its organs.

Members
The Union Council comprises of The President, The General Secretary, Hostel Representatives, a day scholars’ representative and an ex-officio member ( normally the General Secretary of the outgoing Union Council). The ex-officio member does not have voting rights. The President and General Secretary are also a part of StuCCA and CoStAA, which are the bodies that organize Oasis and APOGEE respectively.

Responsibilities
The members of the Union Council introduce matters related to student interest at the meetings of the Union Council for discussion and voting. The elected H-Reps and the D-Rep are assigned a set of department(s) or/and club(s). They monitor the process of inventory maintenance in their allotted group and report any discrepancy to the Union Council and the CRC.5. The H-Reps and the D-Rep also handle the bills submitted to them.

The President
The President is the Head of the Union Council and the General Body. All financial transactions involving Oasis and Apogee are his responsibility. S/he has the power to speak on behalf of the Union with any authority without prior consultation with other members of the Council; if urgency is warranted by the circumstances. S/he is also the signing authority for all financial matters and statements of the Union and may fix an amount to be charged from the members of the Students. S/he is also a member of StuCCA and COSTAA.

The General Secretary
The General Secretary is responsible for all financial matters and statements with the exception of Oasis and Apogee. S/he is also a member of StuCCA and COSTAA.