Minutes of GBM

Maharashtra State Chapter of ASI

MINUTES OF THE GENERAL BODY MEETING (GBM)

Maharashtra State Chapter of the Association of Surgeons of India (MASI)
Held on: 31st January 2026
Venue: MASICON 2026, Gondia
Chair: Hon. President, ASI and MASI

The General Body Meeting of MASI was held on 31st January 2026 at MASICON 2026, Gondia. Entry to the meeting was permitted after verification of membership numbers and attendance was recorded at the entrance. The meeting was called to order by the Hon. President, who welcomed all members present and invited the President of the Association of Surgeons of India, Dr. Maruthu Pandian, to join the dais. He appreciated the Organising Committee of MASICON 2026, Gondia, for the excellent arrangements.

The Hon. Secretary informed the house about the sad demise of Dr. Suneel Lad (Washim), Dr. Subhash Athale (Kolhapur), Dr. Chandrashekhar Pakhmode (Nagpur), and Dr. Manohar Bagul (Nashik). The General Body observed a one-minute silence in their memory.

The minutes of the previous Annual General Body Meeting held on 8th February 2025 at Kolhapur, which had already been circulated and uploaded on the MASI website, were placed before the house. The minutes were proposed by Dr. Vikas Jain and seconded by Dr. Sandesh Gawade and were confirmed by the General Body.

The Hon. Secretary then presented the annual report highlighting academic, professional, and social activities of the State Chapter. It was noted that Dr. Gayatri Deshpande successfully completed the Dr. K.C. Gharpure Traveling Fellowship at GMC Nagpur under the guidance of Dr. Raj Gajbhiye, and Dr. Akshay Chaudhari completed the Dr. V.R. Chitale Traveling Fellowship in Advanced Laparoscopy and Abdominal Wall Reconstruction at KEM Hospital, Mumbai, under Dr. Sameer Rege. The newly awarded fellows for 2025–26 were Dr. Rohan Patil (Dr. K.C. Gharpure Traveling Fellowship) and Dr. Vaishnavi Rothe (Dr. V.R. Chitale Traveling Fellowship). The Best City Chapter in Academics award was presented to Nagpur Surgical Society and the Best City Chapter in Social Activity award to Nashik Surgical Society. The General Body congratulated all awardees.

It was announced that 15th June will be observed as Surgeons’ Day and the second week of June as Surgeons’ Week across Maharashtra. The Association of Surgeons, Yavatmal was granted official recognition as a MASI branch. MASI was awarded the Best Outstanding State Chapter Award at ASICON Kolkata. Dr. Rajendra Shinde received special appreciation for his role as National Head of the Blood Donation Drive, and Latur Surgical Society along with Dr. Nikhil Kale were specially honoured for outstanding blood donation activities. The Hon. Secretary, Dr. Sachin Naik, also received an appreciation certificate at ASICON Kolkata for his contribution to ASI.

The revised prize structure for Best Paper, Best Video, and Best E-Poster awards was approved, and it was noted that e-posters would be evaluated online with shortlisted finalists presenting at MASICON. The winning team of the annual MASI Quiz would be granted non-residential registration for ASICON upon submission of required documents. The house was informed that an MOU had been executed with Poona Surgical Society permitting the MASI office premises at IMA Hall, Pune, to be used for official meetings, with 50% of the annual maintenance expenses to be shared by Poona Surgical Society as donation to MASI.

The Hon. Treasurer, Dr. Sanjay Ghate, presented the audited statement of accounts for the financial year 2024–25. The accounts were proposed by Dr. Abhay Dalvi and seconded by Dr. Nandkishor Katore and were adopted unanimously by the General Body.

The house noted that elections to the Executive Committee for 2027 -2029 would be in online format as ratified earlier. Dr. Vikas Jain VP MASI, was appointed as Chief Election Officer, with Dr. Mahesh Malu and Dr. Ajay Punpale as members of the Election Committee.

Proposal for Zonal Rotation of MASICON

As per the discussions held during the General Body Meeting at MASICON Kolhapur on 8th February 2025, a committee was constituted to examine and propose a zonal distribution system for MASICON into four zones, as suggested by the then President, Dr. Ajay Punpale. The committee comprised Dr. Mahesh Malu, Dr. Sachin Naik, Dr. Ajay Punpale, Dr. Rajendra Shinde, Dr. Rajendra Ganeriwal, Dr. Sachin Jamma, and Dr. Niranjan Agarwal.

The committee deliberated extensively on the issue and recommended that MASICON be conducted in different zones of the state by rotation. It was observed that societies with larger membership strength often gain an advantage during the allotment process. For example, if MASICON is held in Thane and Mumbai bids for the subsequent conference, it may naturally garner greater support due to higher attendance from nearby regions, whereas societies such as Amaravati may not secure majority support during voting. The proposed zonal rotation would therefore ensure equitable opportunity to all regions and promote fairness in allocation. The committee also noted that such a system would eliminate or significantly minimize the election process for conference allotment. Further, zonal rotation would help propagate the objectives and spirit of the MASICON movement to every corner of Maharashtra and enhance participation from surgeons across all regions.

The state would be divided into four zones: Mumbai/Konkan Zone (Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Sindhudurg, Raigad, and Palghar); Western Maharashtra Zone (Pune, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Solapur, Satara, and Sangli); Marathwada Zone (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded, Latur, Beed, Parbhani, Dharashiv, Hingoli, and Jalna); and Vidarbha Zone (Nagpur, Amaravati, Akola, Gondia, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Wardha, Washim, Gadchiroli, and Buldhana).

The proposed rotation policy states that initially, the last three regions that hosted MASICON would be excluded and the remaining region would be given the first opportunity to host MASICON. Subsequently, the same principle would continue for future conferences. Once four MASICONs are conducted under this rotation policy, a clear sequence would be established and continued thereafter. Only city chapters from the designated zone would be eligible to bid for hosting MASICON in that rotation year, and a similar rotational system could be adopted within that zone. In cases where a new city chapter expresses interest in hosting MASICON, predefined criteria would be applied and the existing Executive Committee would assess the feasibility and capability of the city chapter to organize the conference successfully.

It was decided that this zonal rotation system would be implemented from MASICON 2030 onwards. The proposal was discussed in detail during the General Body Meeting, proposed by Dr. Pramod Shinde, seconded by Dr. Vikas Jain, and approved unanimously by the General Body as a convention.

Proposed amendments as per ASI suggestions were placed before the General Body, including:

Management of chapter-Instead of president and vice president, please change it to CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN
Limitation to hold office-Executive committee members should not hold office for more than 6 yrs, Instead of 9yrs.
Let secretary and treaurer be elected from elected Executive committee members.
Meetings Quorum would consist of 60 percent of voting members of EC, not 25 percent.
24 e RIGHT TO CHANGE Instead of WRITE TO CHANGE.

The general body discussed the changes suggested . Dr Abhay Dalvi, Dr Sameer Rege, Dr Keskar and Dr P T Jamdade objected to Change in nomenclature and Secretary & Treasurer to be elected from the EC members(Point no 1 & 3). Dr Pravin Suryavanshi, IPP, ASI clarified the points. After discussion, the General Body did not approve the change in nomenclature and the proposal regarding election of Secretary and Treasurer from EC members. The remaining amendments were approved and taken on record.

Regarding future conferences, MASICON 2027 was confirmed for Thane.

Bids for MASICON 2028 were received from Satara, Nanded, Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, and Solapur. Satara withdrew prior to the conference. After presentations, all remaining bids were withdrawn in favour of Nagpur, and MASICON 2028 was awarded to Nagpur with Dr. Prashant Rahate as Organising Secretary.

No other matter was raised with the permission of the Chair. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the Chair and members present, followed by the National Anthem.

For the minutes of the meeting in PDF format, you can download the PDF file by clicking HERE

Previous AGM minutes: