THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS (INDIA)

George the Fifth, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, Ireland andthe British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of theFaith, Emperor of India.
To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting!

ROYAL CHARTER

Whereas the Association or Institution incorporated under the
Indian Companies Act, 1913, and known as the Institution ofEngineers (India) hath petitioned Us for a Charter of Incorporationsuch as is in and by these Presents granted :AT THE COURT AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE,
The 13th day of August 1935

AND WHEREAS We are minded to comply with the prayer ofsuch Petition :PRESENT,THE KING’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY
IN COUNCILNOW THEREFORE We by virtue of Our Royal Prerogativein that behalf, and of all other powers enabling Us so to do, of Our
special grace certain knowledge and mere motion do hereby, for Us,
Our Heirs and Successors, will, grant, direct, appoint and declare as
follows :–WHEREAS there was this day read at the Board a Report ofa Committee of the Lords of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy
Council, dated the 1st day of August, 1935, in the words following,viz. :“YOUR MAJESTY having been pleased, by Your Order of the
21st day of February, 1935, to refer unto this Committee thehumble Petition of Sir Thomas Guthrie Russell, President ofthe Institution of Engineers (India) and others praying for thegrant of a Charter of Incorporation to the said Institution :“THE L ORDS OF THE C OMMITTEE, in obedience to Your
Majesty’s said Order of Reference, have taken the said
Petition into consideration, and do this day agree humbly toreport, as their opinion, to Your Majesty, that a Charter may
be granted by Your Majesty in terms of the Draft hereunto
annexed.”HIS MAJESTY, having taken into consideration the said
Report, and the Draft Charter accompanying it, was pleased, by andwith the advice of His Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order,
as it is hereby ordered, that the Most Honourable the Marquess ofZetland, one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, do cause
a Warrant to be prepared for His Majesty’s Royal Signature, forpassing under the Great Seal a Charter in conformity with the said
Draft, which is hereunto annexed.
E.C.E. Leadbitter.

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1. The Persons now Members of the said Association orInstitution known as the Institution of Engineers (India) and all suchpersons as may hereafter become Members of the Body Corporate
hereby constituted pursuant to or by virtue of the powers granted bythese Presents, and their Successors, shall for ever hereafter (so longas they shall continue to be such Members) be by virtue of thesePresents one Body Corporate and Politic by the name of “TheInstitution of Engineers (India)” and by the same name shall haveperpetual succession and a Common Seal, with power to break, alterand make a new the said Seal from time to time at their will andpleasure, and by the same name shall and may sue and be sued in all
Courts, and in all manner of actions and suits, and shall have power todo all other matters and things incidental or appertaining to a Body
Corporate, including power to take an hold personal property andpower to purchase, take on lease and hold lands, tenements orhereditaments or any interest in any lands, tenaments orhereditaments whatsoever in Our Indian Empire for the purposes of
the Institution and power to sell, let on lease, alienate, or otherwise
dispose of the same or any part thereof.
2. The objects and purposes for which the Institution ofEngineers (India) (hereinafter called “the Institution”) is hereby
constituted are to promote the general advancement of engineeringand engineering science and their application in India and to facilitate
the exchange of information and ideas on those subjects amongst the2Members of and persons attached to the Institution and otherwise,and for that purpose –(a) To promote and advance the science, practice andbusiness of Engineering in all its branches (hereinafterreferred to as “Engineering”) in India.
(b) To establish, subsidise, promote, form and maintain local
Associations of members belonging to the Institution
and others engaged or interested in Engineering so as
to assure to each individual member as far as may bepossible equal opportunity to enjoy the rights andprivileges of the Institution.
(c) To diffuse among its members information on all mattersaffecting Engineering and to encourage, assist andextend knowledge and information connected
therewith by establishment and promotion of lectures,
discussions or correspondence; by the holding ofconferences; by the publication of papers, periodicals
or journals, books, circulars and maps or other literary
undertaking; by encouraging research work; or by theformation of a library or libraries and collection ofmodels, designs, drawings, and other articles ofinterest in connection with Engineering or otherwise
howsoever.
(d) To promote the study of Engineering with a view todisseminate the information obtained for facilitating thescientific and economic development of Engineeringin India.
(e) To establish, acquire, carry on, control or advise withregard to colleges, schools or other educational
establishments where students and apprentices may
obtain a sound education and training in Engineeringon such terms as may be settled by the Institution.
(f) To encourage, regulate and elevate the technical andgeneral knowledge of persons engaged in or about toengage in Engineering or in any employment manualor otherwise in connection therewith and with aview thereto to provide for the holding of classes
and to test by examination or otherwise thecompetence of such persons and to institute and3

establish professorships, studentships, scholarships,
rewards and other benefactions and to grantcertificates of competency whether under any Actof the Government of India or Local Governmentsregulating the conduct and qualifications ofEngineers or otherwise howsoever.
(g) To give the Government of India, the Local Governments
and Municipalities and other public bodies and others,
facilities for conferring with and ascertaining the viewsof Engineers as regards matters directly or indirectly
affecting Engineering and to confer with the said
Governments, Municipalities and other public bodies
and others in regard to all matters affecting
Engineering.
(h) To encourage inventions and investigate and makeknown their nature and merits.
(i) To arrange and promote the adoption of equitable formsof contracts and other documents used inEngineering and to encourage the settlement ofdisputes by arbitration and to act as or nominate
arbitrators and umpires on such terms and in suchcases as may seem expedient.
(j) To promote efficiency and just and honourable dealing
and to suppress malpractice in engineering.
(k) To do all such other acts and things as are incidental or
conducive to the attainment of the above objects or
any of them.
3. With a view to the better attainment of the objects of theInstitution, the Institution shall use its best endeavours to arrange (inso far as not already arranged) the sub-division of India into areas
and the establishment of local centres for the members and others of
the attached to the Institution who reside or are occupied in thoseareas and shall from time to time prescribe and when desirable alter
the boundaries of such areas which shall be regulated in such manneras the Bye Laws for the time being of the Institution shall prescribe.
4. The Institution shall not carry on any trade or business orengage in any transaction with a view to the pecuniary gain or profitof the Members thereof. No Member shall have any personal claim4

on any property of the Institution and no part of the income orproperty of the Institution shall be paid or transferred directly or
indirectly by way of dividend or bonus or otherwise howsoever by
way of profit to the Members of the Institution except in the case ofand as a salaried officer of the Institution.
5. There shall be a Council of the Institution consisting of such
number of members, with such qualifications, and to be elected orconstituted as such Members of Council in such manner, and to holdoffice for such period, and on such terms as to re-election andotherwise, as the Bye-laws for the time being of the Institution shalldirect.
6. Unless and until the Bye-laws for the time being of theInstitution shall otherwise direct –(a) The Council at their last meeting prior to the annual
general meeting of the Institution in each year shallelect from among their number a President for
the ensuing year, and the President so elected shallenter into his office at that ensuing annual general
meeting and shall be ex-officio a member of theCouncil for the ensuing year;(b) Of the members of the Council of the Institution, otherthan the President, such number as shall coincidewith the total number of local centres for the time
being of the Institution shall be Vice-Presidents,
and the said Vice Presidents shall be therespective Chairmen for the time being of theseveral local centres of the Institution.
7. The first President of the Institution shall be Colonel Sir
Thomas Guthrie Russell, and the first Vice Presidents shall beLieutenant Colonel Alexander Irving Sleigh, V.D., Norman BruceMacbeth, Rao Bahadur Carnapati Vencata Krishnaswamy Chetty,
Alexander Fordyce Harvey and Khan Bahadur Mohammad AbdulAziz.
The first Members of the Council shall be :–(a) The said President;(b) the said Vice Presidents;(c) the following Past Presidents of the said Associationor Institution, namely :–Christopher Addams Williams, C.I.E.,

5Diwan Bahadur Nuggihalli Narasim Ayyangar,
Raja Jwala Prasad, andAlexander Jardine, D.Sc.
(d) the following members of the said Association orInstitution, namely :–Pritamdas Bhojraj Advani,
Malcolm Ramsay Atkins,
Probhat Nath Banerjee,
Fakirjee Eduljee Bharucha,
Rai Bahadur Mul Chand Bijawat, M.A.,
Sir Maurice William Brayshay,
Henry Burkinshaw,
George William Burley,
Kaiyalat Chakko Chakko,
Dewan Bahadur Kashinath RamachandraGodbole, C.B.E.,
Edward Joseph Bernal Greenwood,Frederick Charles Griffin,
Sri Krishna Gurtu, M.A.,
Bertram Lionel Harvey, O.B.E.,
George McCausland Hoey,
Abdul Ghafoor Khan,
Raj Krishna,
Rai Bahadur Makkhan Lal,
Richard Harington Martin,
Narayan Vinayak Modak,
Mohsin Ali,
Rao Bahadur Gopalaswami Nagaratnam Ayyar,
Colonel Sir James Scott Pitkeathly, C.M.G., C.I.E.,
C.V.O., C.B.E., D.S.O.,
Raj Narain, M.B.E.,
Dewan Bahadur Autoor Vengu Ayyar RamalingaAyyar,
Douglas Henry Remfry,
Sir Percy Rothera, O.B.E.,
Colonel Frederick Charles Temple, C.I.E.,
Rai Bahadur Bhagwati Prasada Varma,Arthur Tom Weston, M.Sc.,
Major George Bransby Williams, J.P., andColonel Sir George Henry Willis, C.I.E., M.V.O.,
R.E.

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(e) the following Associate Members of the said
Association or Institution, namely :–Alexander Macdonald,Birendra Nath Mookerjee,
Radha Lal, andRaja Ram.
The said President, Vice Presidents and Members of the Council
shall respectively hold office as such until the due election and coming
into office of their successors in accordance with the Bye-laws ofthe Institution, but shall be respectively eligible, subject to such
Bye-laws, for re-election if otherwise qualified.
8. The Institution shall have such Officers, with suchfunctions, tenure and terms of office as the Bye-laws of theInstitution may prescribe, and such other Officers and Servants as
the Council of the Institution may from time to time appoint. The first
Secretary of the Institution shall be Chaitanya Chand Seal.
9. The government and control of the Institution and its affairs
shall be vested in the Council subject to the provisions of thesePresents and to the Bye-laws for the time being of the Institution.
The business of the Council shall be conducted in such manner as theCouncil may from time to time prescribe.
10. All the powers of the Institution shall be vested in andexercisable by the Council except so far as the same are by thesePresents or by the Bye-laws for the time being of the Institution
expressly required to be exercised by the Institution in general
meeting.

12. Unless and until the Bye-laws of the Institution shallotherwise provide the Institution may attach to itself students,
associates and subscribers, which expressions shall have themeanings respectively assigned to them by the Articles of
Association and Bye-laws of the existing Association or Institution
known as the Institution of Engineers (India). The students,associates and subscribers attached to the said existing Association
or Institution shall be deemed to be attached similarly to theInstitution.
13. The qualifications, method and terms of admission,privileges, and obligations, including liability to expulsion orsuspension of Members of each of the said five classes respectively
shall be such as the Bye-laws for the time being of the Institution
shall direct.
14. The Council shall alone have power to decide conclusively
respecting each person proposed for or seeking admission to any classof membership of the Institution whether he has or has not fulfilled
such conditions as are applicable to his case.
15. A Member of the Institution shall be entitled to theexclusive use after his name of the abbreviated designation“M.I.E.(Ind.)”; an Associate Member of the abbreviateddesignation “A.M.I.E. (Ind.)”; a Companion of the abbreviateddesignation “Comp.I.E. (Ind.)”; an Honorary Life Member of theabbreviated designation “Hon. Life M.I.E. (Ind.)”; and an Honorary
Member of the abbreviated designation “Hon. M.I.E. (Ind.)”.
16. Every person being at any time a Corporate Member of theInstitution may so long as he shall be a Corporate Member take or
use the name or title of “Chartered Engineer (India)”.

11. Unless and until the Bye-laws of the Institution shallotherwise provide there shall be five classes of Members of theInstitution termed respectively Honorary Life Members, Honorary
Members, Members, Associate Members and Companions, of whom
the Members and Associate Members shall be known as CorporateMembers and the Honorary Life Members, Honorary Members andCompanions shall be known as Non-corporate Members.

17. The meetings of the Institution shall be of such classes andshall be held for such purposes as may from time to time beprescribed by the Bye-laws of the Institution and the rights of theseveral classes of members of and of persons attached to theInstitution of attending and voting at the said meetings shall be suchor subject to such restrictions as may be so prescribed.

The Members of the said existing Association or Institution
known as the Institution of Engineers (India) who by virtue of thesePresents become Members of the Institution shall be deemed to haveentered the Institution as Members of the same class as that to which
they belonged in the said existing Association or Institution.

18. The Corporate Members or the majority of such Memberspresent in person or by proxy and voting at any duly convened
General Meeting of the Corporate Members with respect to whichnotice shall have been given of the matters to be taken into
consideration thereat, shall have power from time to time to makesuch Bye-laws of the Institution as to them shall seem requisite and78

convenient for the regulation, government and advantage of theInstitution, its members and property and for the furtherance of theobjects and purposes of the Institution and from time to time to revoke,alter or amend any Bye-law or Bye-laws theretofore made so thatthe same shall be reasonable and not repugnant to these Presents orto the Laws and Statutes of India : Provided that no such Bye-law,revocation, alteration or amendment shall take effect until the samehas been allowed by the Lords of Our Privy Council of whichallowance a Certificate under the hand of the Clerk of Our Privy
Council shall be conclusive evidence.
19. The first Bye-laws to be made under these Presents shallbe made by the Corporate Members of the Institution within the periodof twelve months from the date of these Presents, unless the Lordsof Our Privy Council shall see fit to extend such period, of which
extension the Certificate of the Clerk of Our Privy Council shall beconclusive evidence.

In Witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to bemade Patent.
Witness Ourself at Westminster the ninth day of September inthe twenty-sixth year of Our Reign.
By Warrant under the King’s Sign Manual.
Schuster.
SEAL

20. Pending the making and approval of the Bye-laws to bemade under these Presents but no longer, the Articles of Associationof the said existing Association or Institution known as the Institutionof Engineers (India) and Bye-laws thereof shall be the Bye-laws of
the Institution and shall have effect as though the Institution, itsOfficers and Members, had therein been referred to throughout inlieu of the said existing Association or Institution, its Officers andMembers.
21. The property and moneys of the said existing Associationor Institution known as the Institution of Engineers (India) (including
the property and moneys (if any) held by them as trustees) shall fromthe date of these Presents become and be deemed to be the property
and moneys of the Institution, and shall, as soon as may be, beformally transferred to the Institution or such person or persons on its
behalf as the Bye-laws may prescribe.
22. And We do hereby, for Us, Our Heirs and Successors Grant
and Declare that these Our Letters Patent, or the enrolment or
exemplification thereof, shall be in all things good, firm, valid andeffectual, according to the true intent and meaning of the same, andshall be taken, construed and adjudged in all Our Courts or elsewherein the most favourable and beneficial sense and for the best
advantage of the said Institution, any mis-recital, non-recital,
omission, defect, imperfection, matter or thing whatsoever
notwithstanding.

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