Chapter II CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNCIL

1. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, as soon as may be, after the commencement of this Act, constitute a Council to be called the Maharashtra Council for Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy.
2. (2) The Council constituted under sub-section (1), shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal, with powers to acquire, hold or dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract, and may sue or be sued by its corporate name.
3. (3) The Council shall consist of the following members, namely :-
   • (a) The Director of Medical Education and Research, Ex Officio member.
   • (b) Two members from occupational therapists to be elected from amongst the registered practitioners in the Register of Occupational Therapists.
   • (c) Four members from physiotherapists to be elected from amongst the registered practitioners enrolled in the Register of Physiotherapists : Provided that, the election of the members referred to in clauses (b) and (c) shall be held at such time and at such place and in such manner as may be prescribed : 1[Provided further that, the first election for the election of the members referred to in clauses (b) and (c) shall be held within a period of two years from the date of commencement of this Act :] 2[Provided also that], pending the preparation of the Registers in accordance with the provisions of this Act, for holding election of those registered members on coming into force of this Act, the members referred to in clauses (b) and (c) may be nominated by the Government till the election and appointment of the elected members.
   • (d) One occupational therapist from the recognised teaching institutions in the State, to be nominated by the Government.
   • (e) One Physiotherapists from the recognised teaching institutions in the State, to be nominated by the Government.
   • (f) One person from the field of Occupational Therapy and one person from the field of Physiotherapy to be nominated by the Government.
   • (g) Registrar appointed under section 14 shall be the Member-Secretary.
4. (4) The President shall be elected by the members of the Council from amongst themselves.
5. (5) There shall be two Vice-Presidents, one representing Occupational Therapists and another representing physiotherapists to be known as Vice-President (Occupational Therapy) and Vice-President (physiotherapy), respectively, elected by the members of the Council from amongst themselves.
6. (6) A person who holds or who has held, office as the President or Vice-President, as the case may be, shall subject to the other provisions of this Act, be eligible for re-election to that office.
7. (7) If at any election under clauses (b) or (c) of sub-section (3), the electors fail to elect the requisite number of members, the State Government shall nominate such registered practitioner or practitioners as it deems fit, to fill up the vacancy or vacancies; and the practitioners so nominated shall be deemed to have been duly elected under this section.
8. (8) Where any dispute arises regarding any election of a member or the President or the Vice-Presidents, it shall be referred to the State Government, and the decision of the State Government shall be final.

1. (1) The Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, publish the names of the members, both elected and nominated.
2. (2) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, a member whether elected or nominated, shall hold office for a term of five years from the date of publication of the notification under sub-section (1).
3. (3) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, the President and Vice-Presidents shall hold the office from the date of their election, till the day on which their term of office as members expires.
4. (4) The term of office of an outgoing member shall, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2), be deemed to extend to and expire with, the day immediately preceding the day on which the names of the successor members are published under sub-section (1).
5. (5) The term of office of an outgoing President or Vice-Presidents shall, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3), be deemed to extend to and expire with, the day immediately preceding the day on which the successor President or Vice-Presidents, as the case may be, is elected.
6. (6) An outgoing member shall be eligible for re-election or re-nomination. (7) Leave of absence may be granted by the Council to any member for a period not exceeding six months.

1. (1) Any casual vacancy, before the expiry of the term of the office of the President or the Vice-Presidents or of a member elected under clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (3) of section 3, caused by reason of death, resignation, disqualification or disability or any other reason, shall be filled by election : Provided that, any such vacancy in the office of an elected member occurring within six months prior to the date on which the term of office of all the members expires, shall not be filled.
2. (2) Any casual vacancy, previous to the expiry of the term in the office of a member nominated under clauses (d), (e) and (f) of sub-section (3) of section 3 shall be reported forthwith by the Registrar to the State Government, and shall, as soon as possible thereafter, be filled by the State Government by nomination.
3. (3) Any person elected under sub-section (1) or nominated under sub-section (2) to fill a casual vacancy shall, notwithstanding anything contained of section 4, hold office only so long as the person in whose place he is elected or nominated, would have held office, if the vacancy had not occurred.

1. (1) The President or any Vice-President may, at any time, resign his office by a notice in writing addressed to the Council and delivered to the Registrar. The resignation shall take effect from the date on which it is accepted by the Council.
2. (2) An elected member may at any time resign his office by a notice in writing addressed to the President. A nominated member may at any- time resign his office by a notice in writing addressed to the Government. Every such resignation shall take effect from the date on which it is accepted by the President or, as the case may be, the Government.

1. (1) A person shall be disqualified for being elected or nominated as, and for continuing as, a member, if-
   • (a) he is, or become of, unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court ; or
   • (b) he is, or has been convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude, which, in the opinion of the Government renders him unfit to be a members of the Council ; or
   • (c) he is, or at any time has been, adjudicated as an un-discharged insolvent ; or
   • (d) his name has been removed from the register and has not been re-entered therein ; or
   • (e) he is a whole-time officer or servant of the Council.
2. (2) If any member absent himself from three consecutive meetings of the Council, without leave of the Council granted under sub-section (7) of section 4 or without such reason as may, in the opinion of the Council, be sufficient, the Council may declare his seat vacant and take steps to fill the vacancy.
3. (3) If any member becomes or is found to be subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in sub-section (1), the Council shall submit a report to the Government, and the Government, if satisfied about the disqualification, shall declare his seat vacant.

1. (1) The meetings of the Council shall be convened, held and conducted in such manner as may be prescribed.
2. (2) The President, when present, shall preside at every meeting of the Council. If at any meeting the President is absent, any of the Vice-Presidents, and in absence of the President and the Vice-President, some other member elected by the members present from amongst themselves, shall preside at such meeting : Provided that, the Vice-Presidents shall preside over meeting in the absence of the President, by rotation.
3. (3) All questions at a meeting of the Council shall be decided by a majority of votes.
4. (4) The presiding authority at a meeting of the Council shall have and exercise a second or a casting vote, in case of an equality of votes.
5. (5) Eight members (including the President and Vice-Presidents) shall form a quorum. When a quorum is required but not present, the presiding authority shall, after waiting for not less than thirty minutes for such quorum, adjourn the meeting to such hour on some future day as it may notify on the notice board at the office of the Council, and the business which would have been brought before the original meeting had there been a quorum thereat, shall be brought before the adjourned meeting, and may be disposed of at such meeting or any subsequent adjournment thereof, whether there be a quorum present, or not.

1. (1) The proceedings of the discussion of every meeting of the Council shall be treated as confidential ; and no person shall, without the previous resolution of the Council, disclose any proceedings thereof : Provided that, nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit any person from disclosing or publishing the text of any resolution adopted by the Council, unless the Council directs such resolution also to be treated as confidential.
2. (2) No act or proceeding of the Council shall be invalid merely by reason of-
   • (a) any vacancy in or any defect in, the constitution of the Council ; or
   • (b) any defect in the election or nomination of a person as a member of the Council ; and
   • (c) any irregularity in the procedure of the Council not affecting the merits of the case.
3. (3) During any vacancy in the Council, the continuing member may act, as if no vacancy had occurred : Provided that, the number of vacancies shall at no time exceed seven.

1. (1) The Council shall, as soon as may be, constitute from amongst its members as provided in sub-section (2), an Executive Committee and other Committees for such general or special purposes and for such tenure as the Council considers necessary for carrying out its functions under this Act.
2. (2) The Executive Committee shall consist of the following members, namely :-
   • (a) The President of the Council.
   • (b) The two Vice-Presidents of the Council.
   • (c) Two members of the Council, one representing Occupational Therapists and another representing Physiotherapists nominated by the President of the Council.
   • (d) The Director of Medical Education and Research.
3. (3) The President and the Vice-Presidents of the Council shall be the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, respectively, of the Executive Committee.
4. (4) A member of the Executive Committee shall hold office until the expiry of his term of office as a member of the Council and he shall be eligible for re-nomination.
5. (5) A member may resign his membership of the Committee by writing under his hand addressed to the President of the Committee and the vacancy shall be filed in the same manner as provided in sub-section (2) of section 5.
6. (6) The Executive Committee shall exercise and discharge such powers and duties as may be prescribed.

1. (1) There shall be two separate Committees for the purposes of recommending the recognition of degrees and diplomas granted by institutions imparting training in Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy and to consider matters relating to registration of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists, respectively. The recommendations of these committees shall be subject to approval by the Executive Committee and the Council unless otherwise provided in this Act.
2. (2) The Vice-President concerned with the subject shall be the Chairman of each such Committee. There shall be such other members as may be nominated by the President of the Council from among the members of the Council, representing educationists and specialists in different branches of Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy, as the case may be.

Such fees and allowances for attendance at meetings, as prescribed from time to time, shall be paid to the President and Vice-Presidents and other members of the Council, and to the members of its Executive Committee, and Equivalence and Registration Committees.

1. (1) The income of the Council shall consists of-
   • (a) fees received from the practitioners ;
   • (b) grants received from the State Government, if any ; and
   • (c) any other sums received by the Council.
2. (2) It shall be competent for the Council to incur expenditure for the following purposes, namely :-
   • (a) salaries and allowances of the Registrar and the staff maintained by the Council ;
   • (b) fees and allowances paid to the members of the Council and the Executive Committee ;
   • (c) remuneration paid to the assessors ; and
   • (d) such other expenses as are necessary for performing duties and discharging the functions under this Act.

1. (1) The Council shall, with the previous sanction of the State Government, appoint a Registrar, possessing such qualification as may be prescribed.
2. (2) The Executive Committee may, from time to time, grant leave to the registrar : Provided that, if the period of leave does not exceed one month, the leave may be granted by the President.
3. (3) During any temporary vacancy in the office of the Registrar, due to leave or any other reason, the Deputy Registrar shall act as Registrar. In case of non-availability of Registrar and Deputy Registrar, the Executive Committee may, with the previous sanction of the Government, appoint any other person to act in his place, and any person so appointed shall, for the period of such appointment, be deemed to be the Registrar for the purposes of this Act : Provided that, when the period of such vacancy does not exceed one month, the appointment may be made by the President, who shall forthwith report such appointment to the Executive Committee, and the Government.
4. (4) The Council may, with the previous sanction of the Government suspend, dismiss or remove any person appointed as the Registrar, or impose any other penalty upon him : Provided that, before passing any order under this sub-section, the Registrar shall be given reasonable opportunity of being heard by the Council.
5. (5) Save as otherwise provided by this Act, the salary and allowances and other conditions of service of the Registrar shall be such as may be prescribed.
6. (6) The registrar shall be the ex-officio Secretary and the Executive Officer of the Council. He shall attend all meetings of the Council, and of its Executive Committee and Equivalance and Registration Committee and shall keep minutes of the meetings and names of members present and of the proceedings of such meetings.
7. (7) The accounts of the Council shall be kept by the registrar, in the prescribed manner.
8. (8) The Registrar shall have such supervisory powers over the staff as may be prescribed, and may perform such other duties and discharge such other functions as may be specified in this Act, or as may be prescribed.
9. (9) The registrar appointed under this section shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

1. (1) The Council may appoint such officers and servants, other than the Registrar, as it may deem necessary for performing its duties and discharging its functions under this Act : Provided that, the number and designation of such officers and servants and their salaries and allowances shall be determined by the Council, with the previous sanction of the Government.
2. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), but subject to such financial limit as may be laid down in this behalf by the Council, it shall be competent for the Executive Committee to create temporary posts of clerks or servants and to make appointments thereto, for such period as may be prescribed to meet any temporary increase in work, or to carry out any work of seasonal character.
3. (3) The other conditions of service of the officers and servants of the Council shall be such as may be prescribed.
4. (4) Officers and servants of the Council appointed under this Act shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).