Part 14, Issue # 71 - June 27, 2002 This issue highlights matters related to jurors, in the Indian scenario they are no where to be found after the results are announced but manage to be part of the jury team at world philatelic exhibitions under the patronage of the International Philatelic Federation (FIP) as often as they can manage. The philatelists in India were surprised to learn from PHILAKOREA 2002 web site of the appointment of two jurors from India - M G Pittie and A R Singhee, both from Hyderabad. Pittie shall be the Team Leader of Asia Section of Traditional Class and represents Korea not India? Singhee shall be judging the Postal Stationery Class, as per the web site. The Philatelic Congress of India (PCI) has 32 members on its Governing Council, however as per the available records no request from the organizers of PHILAKOREA 2002 was received nor any nominations approved. The President of FIP, Knud Mohr and FIP Consultant to PHILAKOREA, Koh Seow Chuan when contacted in the first week of April 2002 couldn?t provide satisfactory replies regarding appointment of Pittie and Singhee. Later, there was an unsuccessful attempt in end April 2002 to bring on record a letter of nomination signed by Dilip Shah in November 2000 much after this issue was raised with Mohr and Koh. The appointment of Pittie violates the provision of FIP GREX 31.4 as the approval of PCI was neither sought by the organizers nor granted. Similarly the appointment of Singhee violates the provision of FIP GREX 31.6 and 32.3, as PCI has neither received a request from the organizers for nominations nor has sent any nominations. Further, the appointment of Pittie violates the ?spirit of fair justice? as Damyanti Pittie, an exhibitor at PHILAKOREA 2002, is related to him. M G Pittie has already been instrumental in presenting her with the ?Grand Prix National? as President of the Jury during the 14th Asian Continental exhibition in Calcutta in December 2000. There is a complaint pending against the above decision with the organizers of the exhibition, the PCI and India Post. Anil Suri, a philatelist from New Delhi, has questioned the ownership of items in her exhibit. Suri says ?She illegally and immorally borrowed items from Dilip Shah that were a part of his Grand Prix Collection and this enabled her to be awarded Grand Prix National at Calcutta in 2000. Shah, the Secretary General & President-Elect of PCI as well as a Jury at the said exhibition, connived with Mrs. Pittie in defrauding the jury into believing that she had adhered to the Rules of the exhibition stipulating that the exhibitor should be owner of the entire exhibit for 2 years (GREX 17.1).? PCI was in the process of implementing a rotation system for appointment of jurors from India acting on complaints that Pittie managed to get appointed to four exhibitions in 2001 ? Hong Kong, Nepal, Japan, and Denmark, without any reference to PCI. Appointments such as PHILAKOREA have not allowed PCI to implement the policy of rotating jurors for the International Exhibitions. We hope the organizers of International Exhibitions in future would co-operate with national federations and help them to adhere to their internal policies by following the FIP regulations. The FIP regulations (GREX) guiding the appointment of jury members are as under (The relevant portions are highlighted): 31.4
The Exhibition Management appoints up to 25% of the jury members from the accredited Jurors of its own National Federation, in accordance with Article 31.1. Should the Member not have sufficient accredited jurors, the Exhibition Management and the FIP Consultant will agree from which Members additional accredited jurors may be drawn to fill their quota. The Exhibition Management MUST FIRST OBTAIN APPROVAL FROM THE MEMBERS from whom additional accredited jurors are to be drawn before such additional accredited jurors may be invited. 31.6
The Exhibition Management shall appoint the balance of the jury members from the list of accredited jurors SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS. Each Member shall have the right to nominate up to three jurors in different disciplines on the request of the Exhibition Management. If possible, the selected jury members should come from those countries which are represented by the greatest number of exhibits. A maximum of two jury members (senior consultants and FIP quota jurors not included) with different specialised knowledge may be appointed from each Member. A jury member may not also serve as Commissioner save as provided under Article 22.3. 32.3
The procedure for appointment of Jury members will be as follows: THE EXHIBITION MANAGEMENT WILL ASK FOR NOMINATIONS of a short list of accredited jurors in accordance with Article 31.6; FIP Board Members and Commission Chairmen should not be nominated, they will always be nominees for the FIP quota. The Exhibition Management will then prepare out of the above lists a tentative composition of the jury; The FIP Consultant, in consultation with the Exhibition Management shall ensure that there are sufficient qualified team leaders on the jury and also that at least 10% of the jurors are recently qualified. He will also indicate which jurors should be selected as FIP nominees. |