Chapter II THE GUJARAT NURSING COUNCIL

(1) With effect from such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette notify, there shall be established for the purposes of this Act a council to be called ―The Gujarat Nursing Council‖. The Council shall be a body corporate and have perpetual succession and a common seal and may, by the said name, sue and be sued, and shall be competent to acquire and hold property, both moveable, and immoveable, and to contract and do all things necessary for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The Council shall consist of the following members,-

(a) as ex-officio members,-

(i) the Director of Health and medical Services, Gujarat State;

(ii) the Superintendent of Nursing Services, Government of Gujarat;

(iii) Regional Nursing Supervisor, Government of Gujarat.

(b) as elected members,-

(i) two persons to be elected by nurses, midwives and health visitors registered in the register referred to in section from amongst themselves;

(ii) one person to be elected by the heads of the affiliated institutions from amongst themselves;

(iii) three persons to be elected as follows:-

(a) two, by the matrons of the affiliated institutions imparting training in general nursing and midwifery from amongst themselves;

(b) one, by the matrons of the affiliated institutions imparting training in auxiliary nurse mid-wife from amongst themselves;

(iv) one person to be elected by the sister tutors of the affiliated institutions from amongst themselves;

(v) one person to be elected by the Gujarat Medical Council from amongst its members;

(vi) one person to be elected by the Gujarat Territorial branch of the Indian Medical Association from amongst its members;

(vii) one person to be elected by the members of the Faculties of Nursing of the Universities established by law in the State of Gujarat, which confer a degree in Nursing from amongst themselves.

(c) as nominated members, three persons to be nominated by the State Government.

(3) The President and Vice-President of the Council shall be elected by the members of the Council from amongst themselves.

(4) The election of the President and Vice-President shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be held at such time and place and in such manner as may be prescribed by rules.

(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section and in section 5,-

(i) in respect of the constitution of the Council for the first time under this Act, the members thereof other than ex-officio members shall be nominated by the State Government from amongst persons qualified to be elected as members of the respective class;

(ii) the other members so nominated shall hold office for such period not exceeding three years in the aggregate as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify.

If any of the classes of persons or institutions referred in section 2 does not, by such date as may be prescribed, elect a person to be a member of the Council, the State Government shall, by order in writing, appoint to the vacancy a person qualified for election thereto; and the person so appointed shall be deemed to be a member of the Council as if he had been duty elected by the said class of persons or institution, as the case may be.

(1) The members of the Council, other than the ex-officio members specified in clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 3, shall hold office for a term of five years from the date of their election or nomination as the case may be, or until their successors have been duly elected or nominated as the case may be, whichever is longer and shall be eligible for re-election or re-nomination, as the case may be.

(2) Any such member may at any time resign his appointment by letter addressed to the President of the Council. The resignation shall take effect from the date on which it is accepted by the Council or on the expiry of sixty days from the date of the receipt of the letter by the President whichever event occurs earlier.

When a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of the Council through death, resignation, removal or disability of such member or otherwise, previous to the expiry of the period of his office, the vacancy shall be filled in the manner prescribed. Any person elected or nominated to fill a casual vacancy shall, notwithstanding anything contained in section 5, hold office only so long as the member in whose place he is elected or nominated would have held office if the vacancy had not occurred.

If a vacancy in the office of a member of the Council has occurred, the continuing members thereof shall act as if no vacancy had occurred, and no act or proceeding of the Council shall be deemed invalid merely by reason of a vacancy in the Council or of a defect in the election or nomination of a person acting as a member of the Council.

No person shall be a member of the Council-

(a) who has been sentenced by a criminal court for an offence involving moral turpitude and punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three months or to transportation, such sentence not having been subsequently reserved, quashed or remitted, unless he has by order, which the State Government is hereby empowered to make in this behalf, been relieved from the disqualification arising on account of such sentence, or

(b) who is an undischarged insolvent, or

(c) who has been adjudicated by a competent court to be of unsound mind, or

(d) whose name has been removed from the register.

(1) If any member, during the period for which he has been elected or nominated,-

(a) absents himself without excuse, sufficient in the opinion of the Council, from three consecutive ordinary meetings of the Council ; or

(b) is absent out of India for a period exceeding eight consecutive months ; or

(c) becomes subject to any of the disqualification specified in section 8 ; or

(d) having been elected by the Gujarat Medical Council, ceases to be a registered medical practitioner;

(e) having been elected by any of the institutions, associations or Faculties mentioned in paragraph (ii), (iii), (iv); (vi) or (vii) as the case may be of clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 3 ceases to be a member of the institution, Association or Faculty concerned; The President of the Council shall forthwith report the fact to the State Government, which shall thereupon, by an order in writing, declare his seat to be vacant.

(2) If any question arises whether a vacancy has occurred under sub-section (1), the orders of the State Government shall be final for the decision of such question.

The Council may permit any member to absent himself from the meetings of the Council for any period not exceeding eight months.

All elections under this Act shall be made according to the distributive system of voting. Explanation- The distributive system of voting means a system of voting in which every voter shall be entitled to give as many votes as there are seats to be filled: Provided that no voter shall give more than one vote to any one candidate: Provided further that no voting paper shall be deemed to be valid unless the voter has recorded all the votes which he is entitled to give.