Section 18:
Resignation from membership and filling up to casual vacancies.
(1) Any member of the
Council may at any time resign his membership by writing under his hand addressed to the President, and
the seat of such member shall become vacant when such resignation is accepted and notified by the
Council.
(2) A member of the Council, other than a member nominated under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of
section 12 shall be deemed to have vacated his seat if he is declared by the Council to have been absent
without sufficient reason from three consecutive meetings of the Council, or of any of the Committees
constituted by the Council, and of which he is a member or he has been found guilty of any professional
or other misconduct and awarded penalty of fine or if his name is, for any cause, removed from the
register under the provisions of sections 24 and 30.
(3) A casual vacancy in the office of a member of the Council shall be filled by fresh election or by
nomination by the Central Government, as the case may be, and the person elected or nominated to fill the
vacancy shall hold office only for the remainder of the term for which the member in whose place he was
elected or nominated would have held that office:
Provided that no election shall be held to fill a casual vacancy occurring within one year prior to the
date of the expiration of the term of such member.
(4) No act done by the Council shall be called in question on the ground merely of the existence of
any vacancy in, or defect in the constitution of the Council.