Executive Council Meeting

When the Society was formed in 1942, the freedom struggle of India from the British Raj was at its peak and a lot of youth had joined the movement. The last British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten was formulating the procedure for the partition of India before leaving after over 200 years of British Rule. In this situation of turmoil and Civil Disobedience, a meeting of the society functionaries was held at New Delhi on October 19, 1946, with Sardar Bahadur Lal Singh, the then Fruit Development Advisor, Govt. of India in the Chair. Dr P.K. Sen, the then Treasurer presented the financial position of the society in the meeting and stressed the need for obtaining greater support of the horticultural workers across the country and the public at large interested in horticultural development in India so as to make it possible to carry out the activities of the society more effectively. During this meeting, Dr M.S. Randhawa, the then President proposed that in order to raise the financial status of the society, patrons of the Society may be elected and any person or institution donating a sum of Rs. 1,000/- or higher would be elected as a Patron of HSI. This proposal was unanimously adopted. It was also specified that since the election rules were formulated, the Executive Council would take over with effect from January 1, 1947. It was further decided that while Sardar Bahadur Lal Singh would be re-elected as the President, Capt. L.M. Mitchell and Mr. P.V. Reddy as Vice-Presidents, Dr A.A. Khan as Secretary and Sardar Bal Singh Bajwa as Treasurer. Twelve councillors and five members of the Editorial Board were also elected. However, the work remained to be carried out by Dr P.K. Sen, who was Editor as well Secretary of the society. The Academy is holding regular Executive Council meetings since January 1, 2004 twice a year. Till date 33 meetings have been held for reviewing programmes and discussing various issues related to general management and functions, publications, finances etc. of the society.

Annual General Body Meeting

After the formulation of the society, an announcement was sent on July 22, 1942 that the first meeting would be held at Layallpur (now Pakistan) from November 16-21, 1942. However, this meeting could not materialize due to Civil Disobedience Movement in the country and as a result a circular for its postponement was issued on October 2, 1942. Then the World War II started and during post war period, a meeting was proposed by Sardar Lal Singh in February 1946, which also could not be held due to turmoil during partition of the country. In 1951, the President, Prof. W.B. Hayes of Allahabad Agriculture Institute issued a circular to the members on 20th July, 1951, for holding the annual meeting as per the constitution, so that some new decisions and desirable amendments could be taken. To take the advantage of presence of horticulturists who were the members of the Fruit & Vegetable Committee of the ICAR in a meeting held at New Delhi, it was decided to hold the Society’s Annual meeting just after that committee meeting and along with an excursion to the Fruit Research Station, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh the following day. Accordingly, the first Annual General Body Meeting of the Horticultural Society of India was held on November 12-13th, 1951 in the Committee Room of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Jaisalmer House, Man Singh Road, New Delhi. The President, Prof. W.B. Hayes gave his opening remarks. Mr. S.L. Katyal, Secretary presented his report containing the history of formation of the society. He also informed about the formation of annual Executive Council, which had President (1), Vice President (2), Secretary (1) and Treasurer (1) along with 12 Executive Councilors and five members of the Editorial Board. During this meeting, it was pointed by Sardar Bal Singh Bajwa, the then Treasurer, about the efforts made by Dr Aslam A. Khan, post-partition of the country regarding transfer of bank deposit, i.e. Rs. 2,719.10/- at Colony Bank of Lyallpur, Pakistan in early 1948 to Central Bank of India, Jullunder, Punjab. On the next day excursion trip to Fruit Research Station, Saharanpur was made as planned and experiment layout and laboratory facilities maintained at the station were visited by the members. The Academy is holding regularly Annual General Meetings since January 1, 2004. Till date 17 such meetings have been held which took up various issues related to general management and functions, publications, finances etc. of the Academy.

Sitting (L to R): – Mr. H.C. Thapar (Under Secretary, ICAR), Mr. Kailash Nath, Mr. L. Venkataratnam, Mr. S.L. Katyal (Secretary & Editor), Mr. S.R. Verma, S. Bala Singh Bajwa (Vice-President), Dr Sham Singh (President 1950), Mr. W.B. Hayes (President 1951), Dr G.S. Cheema (President 1949), Miss R. Shah, Mr. R.S. Roy (Councillor), Dr P. Maheshwari, Dr U.N. Chatterjee, Dr P.K. Sen and Dr S.K. Mukherjee

Standing (L to R): – Mr. D.M. Anand, Mr. S. Madhava Rao, Mr. J.B. Mathur, Mr. M. Pradymna Singh (Councillor), Dr Y.R. Mehta, Dr Sardar Singh, Dr R.L. Nagpal (Councillor), Mr. N.R. Kaura, Mr. Y.B. Dham, S. Gian Singh Baweja, Dr D. Chatterjee, Mr. S.C. Nagbiswas, Mr. Sheomurat Singh, Mr. Indrajit Singh, Mr. N. Nath, Mr. R.K. Mehta and Mr. A.C. Malik

Standing (L to R): – Mr. Bachan Singh (Peon), Mr. Jagjit Singh, Mr. Daljit Singh, (Sub-Editor), Dr Gurdip S. Randhawa, 2nd Row:- Mr. Gurbachan S. Bains, Dr Gurcharan S. Randhawa (Councillor), S. Harbir Singh Sandhu and Mr. K.K. Sharma