Prepared by – The Intern batch Summer session 2018, Pangkame R Marak, Kanak Kharkongkor, Nazima Dkhar, Soumik Sur, ( All are the students of USTM) Nabanita Goswami ( Amity Law School Kolkata), , Prakreetish Sarma ( National Law University and Judicial Academy Assam) Partha Shankar Biswas (Advocate Gauhati High Court).

Courtesy and Inspiration – Himangshu Ranjan Nath, Assistant Professor of Law, National Law University & Judicial Academy Assam.

ARTICLE I – NAME AND OBJECT

The name of this journal is the Journal of S. C. Biswas & Associates (JSCBA). It is an open access, peer-review and periodical journal dedicated to express views on legal & social science issues, there by sharing of ideas on current legal and social matters. Its primary aim is to provide a platform for the expression of views of people belonging to the field of both law and social science as it is important in the present era to understand the importance, impact and changes of law, and also the problems of society and its effects on public. The view of experts on law as well as on social science through offline and online set of publication shall be directed to enable the readers to explore challenges that lie before law makers, lawyers and society at large to meet the socio-economic and technological changes. However any defamatory statements shall be out rightly rejected.

OBJECT –

• To provide a practical advice on key legal & social issues, assess the implications of legal & social developments ensuring that our readers are kept fully informed of the opportunities that arise from the changes in society and law.

• It facilitates students, teachers, scholars to write journals, articles on various issues and current trends in society and law.

• It also facilitates exchange of ideas on legal and social science issues from Academicians, Jurists, law students, social workers etc.

• The uniqueness of this journal is that it provides a reasonable opportunity to those who are interested in the field of law and social science to express their views accordingly.

Composition of JSCBA-

JSCBA comprises of five panels in total:

• Advisory Board (AB): Jurist, Acclaimed Academicians, Practitioners, Social workers (minimum 10 years of experience).

• Executive Board (EB): Academicians, Practitioners and Corporate Professionals of repute.

• Editorial Board (EDB): Other Academicians and Practitioners as per the decisions of the Organizing Board.

• Student Board (SB): Undergraduate and Post-Graduate students from the field of law and social science and other premier Institutions all over the world.

• Organizing Board (OB): Member Associates of JSCBA.

ARTICLE II- ELECTION TO THE BOARD PANELS

Section 1: Election to the Board Panels

(a) The Advisory Board and Executive Board are fixed.

(b) A rotation policy shall govern the term of all AB and EB members and for this purpose the term shall be three years from the publication of the first immediate issue after their induction.

(c) The tenure of all AB and EB members shall be three years after which one-third members would retire on the seniority basis and the new board members shall be eligible for the vacant positions.

(d) The membership of the JSCBA consists only of the Editorial Board, Student Board and other such panels not including the AB and EB. All the members are renowned academicians, social workers, litigators, and corporate professionals, current or former staff/associates of JSCBA, fellows and students (only SB) in good standing with all the Law & Social Science Schools all over the world.

Section 2: JSCBA Academic Editors.

1. Selection: The JSCBA (herein, the OB) appoints two Academic Editors from the staff of JSCBA to the Editorial Board.

2. Duties: The Academic Editors work closely with the EDB on the content and development of the journal.

ARTICLE III- EDITORIAL BOARD

Section 1: Composition of the Board: The EB consists of the JSCBA Academic Editors, the Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editors and the Member Editors.

Section 2: Period of office:

The Board-

• Takes office no later than the first week of the issue released in that particular period subsequent to their selection and;

• Serves no later than the last week of the final issue in the following year.

Section 3: Quorum and Voting power: A quorum of the Board consists of at least three Editors. The members of the Board shall have equal votes in all matters. The decision of the Editor-In-Chief shall be final in the case of an impasse.

Section 4: Editorial Selections:

1. Founding Board: The first Editorial Board (the Founding Board) of the JSCBA consists of the individuals as laid down in Appendix IV.

2. Election and Appointment: The selection of a new Board is conducted at a meeting called by the incumbent Editor-in-Chief by issuing a prior notice of 14 days to the OB. The selection meeting is called no later than the penultimate week of the issue being released before the term and of the preceding Board and is held no later than the last week of the issue being released before the term end of the preceding board. There is no bar on re-election and re-appointment.

3. Eligibility: Election and Appointment to the Board is limited to renowned Academicians, litigators, corporate professionals, current or former staff/associates of JSCBA, fellows and students only for SB in good standing with all the Law Schools over India.

4. Method of Selection: Each candidate presents his or her programme for the furtherance of the goals of the JSCBA in an expression of interest and providing their Curriculum Vitae to the Organizing Board. All such application would then be shortlisted by a panel consisting of at least one AB member and two EB members after which the shortlisted applicants would be able to represent them in elections. The Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editors are elected by a simple majority of votes of the incumbent. OB, EB and EDB present at the selection meeting (Refer to Appendix V for further information). The candidate with the most votes is the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief elect after consultation with the new Deputy Editors and the incumbent OB, EB appoints the other editors.

5. Vacancies: Vacancies on the Board are filled for the remainder of the unexpired term of the vacating editor by a majority vote of the incumbent OB, EB, and EDB Board.

Section 5: Duties:

The Editorial Board serves as the officer’s body of the JSCBA. The Editorial Board must:

1. Accept submissions at their absolute discretion and assign to the appropriate editor for review

2. Ensure the integrity of the double blind peer review policy of JSCBA

3. Obtain appropriate copyright agreements;

4. Promote the JSCBA in the legal field as well as academia;

5. Maintain relations with JSCBA and all the law schools over the India.

6. Supervise the work of the Member Editors, and ;

7. Arrange atleast two Editors meetings if required (Refer to Appendix V for further information) in each academic year.

NOTE: Duties indicate are mentioned in Appendix III

ARTICLE IV- MEMBER EDITORS

Section 1: Selection: All academicians and practitioners in good standing with JSCBA are eligible to become Member Editors. (Refer Appendix IV for details about who is serving in the first instance)

Section 2: Duties: Member Editors are submission editors of the JSCBA are assigned by the Board to edit submissions made to the JSCBA on specific subjects within their expertise. Member Editors must:

1. Be present in atleast one of the Editors’ Meetings in each year if required,

2. Review the assigned submissions within the time frame set by the Board, and;

3. Maintain the standards of the JSCBA blind review policy in the conduct of their duties.

Section 3: Term: There is no limit on the term of office of a Member Editor.

Section 4: Voting: The Members do not have voting privileges except in the selection meeting.

Section 5: Impeachment: An impeachment proceeding can be initiated against a Member Editor on an application presented by atleast by two editors and the said Member Editor may be subsequently removed by a simple majority of the Board only after serving a 14 days prior notice to the said Member Editor for filling a detailed reply in the editor’s failure to perform the duties of the Member Editor.

ARTICLE-V- SUBMISSIONS FOR PUBLICATION

Section 1. Scope

The submission made to the journal must be based on issues revolving around law and social science areas. Contents of articles must be suitable for readership among students, practitioners and academicians alike. Submissions using offensive language and defamatory references will be rejected. Policy are addressed in the Submission guidelines.

Section 2. Copyright

Unless otherwise indicated, each article, essay, comment, or other work published in JSCBA is copyright © by its authors. Also unless otherwise indicated, the authors and the journal grant permission to reproduce and distribute for non-profit educational uses material published in the journal, provided that:

1. The copied work is identified in accordance with the rules set forth in the current edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation; and

2. Proper notice of copyright is affixed to each copy.

For permission to reproduce and distribute any work published in the JSCBA for other purposes contact the work’s author(s). All such reproduction must identify the author(s), the Journal, the volume, the number of the first page, and the year of the work’s publication in the Journal.

The Editorial Board must request a non-exclusive license agreement from each author. No submission to JSCBA is published unless such an agreement has been received.

ARTICLE VI – AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Any member of either, the Advisory Board, Executive Board, Editorial Board or Organizing Board may propose, in writing, amendments to the Constitution. Proposed amendments are submitted to the Editor In-Chief and become effective if approved by a general meeting of all the boards excluding the Student Board and affirmed by the Organizing Board.

ARTICLE VII – COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS AND OTHER DISPUTES

1. To ensure that there is no violation of copyrights law, the authors must obtain written permission for the use of any copyrighted material in the manuscript and the same must be communicated to the journal.

2. In case of disputes arising out of Copyright Violation, the liabilities solely rest with the author (s) of the disputed manuscript and no liability would arise for JSCBA. In case of Copyright Infringement, the authors of any submitted article would be solely responsible for the litigation arising out of such violations of Intellectual Property Laws.

3. All other disputes are subject to local laws and jurisdiction.

ARTICLE VIII – STUDENT BOARD

Section 1: Selection:

All undergraduate or postgraduate students from law and social sciences background who are in good standing with JSCBA (AB, EB, EDB, OB) is eligible to become a Student Editorial Member. (See Appendix VII for more specific details)

Section 2: Duties:

All duties and responsibilities of various positions under the SB are explained in Appendix VII.

Section 3: Term:

The term of office of a student editor has no limit.

Section 4: Voting:

Members of Student Editorial Board do not have voting powers except in student board meetings.

Section 5: Impeachment:

A motion on impeachment can be initiated against a Student Editor on an application furnished by at least two student editors and a 14 days prior notice must be served to the said student editor for filing a detailed reply in the editor’s failure to perform the duties and thereby, the said Student Editor may be subsequently removed by a simple majority of the Student Editorial Board.

Note: SB members’ positions are not open for elections. Nominations to the SB would be carried out by the OB through an open ‘Call for Applications’ thereby following a detailed procedure as decided by the OB in consultation with the Director of JSCBA.

ARTICLE IX – GENERAL MEETING

1. A General Meeting of JSCBA would be held every year in the premises of the firm or in an Online mode as decided by the OB or in any other manner as per the final decision of the OB and the Director of the law firm (S.C.Biswas and Associates)

2. Such a meeting would consist of the AB, EB, EDB, SB and the OB members.

3. No less than one-third members of each of the Boards are required to convene and organize a General Meeting.

4. No motion on impeachment can be initiated against any member from office only on the account of his absence from the General Meeting.

5. An application must be served to the OB by at least one-third members from any of the Boards excluding SB, accumulating relevant reasons thereof, to change the venue of the General Meeting.

6. A General Meeting can be called off by a simple majority of all Board Members (AB, EB, EDB, SB, OB) or for the paucity of financial resources or if it is not convenient to conduct such a meeting.

ARTICLE X – VOTING POWERS AND RATIFICATION

All voting members carry equal vote wherein required.

APPENDIX I

Peer-review guidance form for JSCBA

Article Title:

1. Please comment on the originality of the work:

2. Please comment on the quality of the research (the question asked/the methodology/ the scholarship):

3. Please comment on the use of the secondary and primary literature:

4. Is this article worthy of inclusion in JSCBA?

5. If you feel that this article should be rewritten and resubmitted, what changes would you suggest?

6. Any additional comments or observations.

APPENDIX II

Second stage report for JSCBA

Article Title:

1. Has the article been sufficiently amended to merit inclusion in the JSCBA (See original reports/ author’s statement of amendments).

2. If you feel that this article should be further re written and re submitted, what changes would you suggest?

3. Any additional comments or observations.

APPENDIX III

Editorial Board Roles and Responsibilities

We need our editors and reviewers to be key figures in JSCBA and to have some experience of publishing articles and papers. The acceptance or rejection of an article depends upon a reviewer’s comments as they play an important role in peer review process. In order to increase the quality of her journal all members are requested to test out the manuscripts submitted to them without any bias. There is no hard and fast rule to analyse a manuscript and it depends upon the worthiness, quality and originality. The following points have to be gone through while verifying the manuscript:

1. Assist in creating a list of other experts who will undertake review.

2. Detailed examination and relevance of the manuscript as per author guidelines.

3. Careful examination of purpose and objectives of the work carried out.

4. Correctness of the conclusion and recommendations along with up to date references.

5. Copy editing and proof reading of the manuscripts in accordance with publishing standards especially with grammar, punctuation and spelling.

6. Coverage areas of the manuscript in relevance with the scope of journal.

7. You have to give at least (minimum) Six suggestions based on the structure of the manuscript. In general there is no maximum limit.

8. You have complete authority to accept or reject manuscripts but final decision in case of sensitive titles about the inclusion or rejection from the publication remains in the hands of Editor-in-Chief.

APPENDIX IV

Associate Members / Staff (to be expanded)

List of Advisors associated with Journal for S.C. Biswas & Associates

APPENDIX V

Mode of Meetings

Physical Meeting:

A General or Selection meeting can be convened physically in any of the values as decided by the board members through the procedure laid down in the Constitution.

Online Meeting:

A General or Selection meeting can be convened online through a Conference Call on portals like Skype, Google, or through any other online medium as per the feasibility, time availability and assent of the Board Members.

NOTE: Voting in Online Meeting would be carried out through casting a direct vote in a secret ballot on web based voting platforms such as but not limited to Election Runner, Easy Polls, or Doodle etc.

APPENDIX VI

Partners, Sponsors and Associates

APPENDIX VII

Student Editorial Board

1. Executive Board

1. Managing Editor (1 place)

Description

Managing Editors serve the function of managing the progress and maintenance of the Journal. They are therefore expected to serve a number of different tasks including but not limited to:

• Working alongside the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Panel to oversee management of the Journal, the assigned editorial team, and the Administration.

• Updating and developing the JSCBA Law Journal Website, Facebook page.

• Developing the Journal’s Advisory & Executive Board.

• Communicating with law firms and other organizations regarding matters such as sponsorship invitation on behalf of the Journal.

• Responsible for the publishing of Journal issues, which entails publicizing for article submissions, organizing all student editorial meetings, ensuring students editors are trained, creating and leading student editorial teams and publishing the Journal issues on the platforms as detailed out by the Organizing Board.

• Together with the Executive Board, Managing Editors may vote on decisions to be made on behalf of the Journal. They may also serve as a third reader while reviewing article submissions for selection.

Requirements:

1. Must be a Postgraduate or Doctoral student. Students having a keen interest and knowledge in law and social sciences will be given preferences.

2. Must demonstrate leadership skills and the ability to work in a team.

3. Must demonstrate the ability to adapt to different tasks.

4. Applicants can efficiently use Journal management websites and similar portals.

5. Applicants should be committed and passionate about the Journal, as Managing Editors selected in their penultimate year of study will be given preference to continue their roles for the following academic year.

6. Experience with websites design, social media portals or publishing is favorable.

2. Editorial Board

1. Senior Editor (3 Places)

Description

Senior Editors are primarily responsible for ensuring the content of the article, as well as its citations, are in conformity with Bluebook Citation Format. In addition to fixing grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors as well as they also format each article. They are also responsible for overseeing sentence and language construction errors in the articles.

Requirements

1. No restrictions on the applicant’s year of study. 4^th and 5^th year law student as well as Postgraduate law students will be given priority. Students having a keen interest and knowledge in law and other social sciences will be preferences.

2. Must demonstrate the ability to work in a team.

3. It is strongly advised that applicants are familiar with legal writing, especially Bluebook form of Citation,

4. There should be familiarity with legal databases is favorable.

5. Experience working on law journals/ reviews or similar experience is favorable.

2, Associate Editors (6 places approx.)

Description

The primary focus of the Associate Editors is to pull sources that corresponds to each footnote during the editorial process and to review, check, and confirm citations for technical and substantive accuracy. Associate Editors work closely with the Editorial Board, Senior Editors and the Managing Editor of the JSCBA to edit and produce the Journal. Typically this will involve proofreading articles, checking footnotes, and verifying all sources cited by the authors. In this process, Student Editors will gain valuable experience in high-level academic writing in law and will develop excellent analytical and legal skills. Moreover, they will also get the opportunity to work with the Academic editors and other law students as well as students from other social sciences in the production of academic publications.

Requirements

1. Undergraduate students pursuing Law and other social sciences will be given preference.

2. Students must demonstrate the ability to work in a team.

3. It is advised that applicants are familiar with legal writing, especially Bluebook form of Citation.

4. Familiarity with legal databases is favorable.

2. Blog Editors (Applications open in )

1. Senior Editor (1 Place) and Editor (1 Place)

Description

The JSCBA will concurrently run a blog site which aims to post relevant legal issues and articles in areas of interests to the student pursuing law and other social sciences. The blog editors will be responsible for overlooking submissions to the blog. Apart from editing for grammar, spelling and general mistakes, the editors must also perform basic facts checking and source pulling in articles to ensure that they are of the best quality.

Requirements

1. Must be a 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th year B.A., LL.B. or LL.B. or LL.M. or a Master’s student. Ph.D. candidates are also welcome to apply. Students from social science background are also eligible to apply. Postgraduate law students will be given preference.

2. Must demonstrate the ability to work in a team.

3. It is advised that applicants have previous experience writing or editing posts on the internet, such as articles, blog posts or opinion-editorials.

4. It is advised that applicants have experience with web design.