Terms & Conditions

1. Who we are #

Mangala United is a registered society under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960 (registration no. DRDK/SOR/76/2025-2026), an IT community association based in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

Our registered address and contact details are in the final section.

2. Eligibility for membership #

Membership is open only to individuals working in the Information Technology (IT) industry who are aged 18 or over, who meet the eligibility criteria prescribed by the Association, and who agree to these Terms & Conditions and the Association’s code of conduct.

Membership is personal to you. It cannot be transferred, shared, or sold.

3. Applying for membership #

You apply through the Membership Portal. Applications are reviewed by the committee, which may:

• approve the application, after which a payment link is issued;
• place it on hold and ask you for more information; or
• reject it.

The committee’s decision is final. We will notify you of the outcome by email and, where applicable, provide the reason for the decision.

4. Fees and the membership year #

Fees are set by the committee for each membership category and are shown before you pay. We may change fees for future periods; a change never affects a period you have already paid for.

Membership runs for the financial year or term shown on your receipt, regardless of the date you joined within it, unless we state otherwise in writing.

Certain categories — such as Honorary membership — may be granted by the committee without a fee.

5. Renewal and lapse #

Membership does not renew automatically and we do not store your payment details for recurring billing. We will send reminders before your term ends.

If your fee is not paid by the end of your term, your membership is treated as lapsed and you lose access to member benefits, including voting at the Annual General Meeting, until it is renewed. A lapsed membership is not closed automatically: an authorised officer of the committee reviews the case and records any decision to end it, with a reason. Your record is retained in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

The committee sets a renewal deadline for each membership year. It is an administrative date and need not fall inside the year itself. Your subscription for that year falls due once the deadline has passed, for every member who was due to renew into it — that is, members carried over from the previous year. A member whose first term began during the current year is not renewing and the deadline does not apply to them.

Allowing a term to lapse does not cancel a subscription that has already fallen due. Only the committee can waive it. If you cannot renew for a particular year, tell us before the deadline — nothing has fallen due at that point.

6. Your portal account #

You are responsible for:

• keeping your password confidential and not sharing your account;
• keeping your contact details accurate — we rely on your email for receipts and renewal notices;
• telling us promptly if you believe your account has been accessed by someone else.

You must not attempt to gain access to another member's account or to any part of the portal you are not authorised to use, probe or test the portal's security, or use automated tools to extract data from it.

7. Membership card and receipts #

Your digital membership card and payment receipts each carry a QR code linking to a public verification page, so that a third party can confirm they are genuine. You are responsible for deciding whom to show your card or receipt to. See our Privacy Policy for what those pages display.

Do not alter, reproduce or lend your membership card. Presenting a card for a lapsed, suspended or terminated membership is a breach of these terms.

8. Code of conduct #

Members and event participants agree to:

• treat others with respect, regardless of background, gender, religion, or level of experience;
• refrain from harassment, discrimination, intimidation, or abusive language, online or in person;
• refrain from using Association channels, member contact details, or events for unsolicited commercial promotion, recruitment spam, or political campaigning;
• not misrepresent their association with, or authority to speak for, Mangala United;
• respect the confidentiality of anything shared in confidence at Association meetings.

Report a concern to connect@mangalaunited.com, marking your email "Confidential — conduct". Reports are treated confidentially and seen only by the committee members handling them.

9. Suspension and termination #

The committee may suspend or terminate a membership where a member:

• breaches the code of conduct;
• provided false or misleading information in their application;
• acts in a way that brings the Association into disrepute or damages its interests; or
• breaches any other provision of these terms.

Process. Except where the conduct is serious enough to require immediate action, we will notify you in writing of the concern, give you 14 days to respond, consider your response, and tell you the outcome with reasons. You may appeal in writing to the Executive Committee (excluding any member involved in the original decision) within 14 days of the decision.

The committee may impose temporary restrictions on membership privileges during a suspension — for example access to the portal, attendance at events, or voting at a general meeting.

Fees paid are not refunded on suspension or termination. See our Cancellation & Refund Policy.

10. Resignation #

You may resign at any time by writing to us or using the portal. A resignation is a request: your membership continues, with all its benefits, until the committee accepts it. We will tell you the outcome. Fees already paid are not refunded — see our Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Where your subscription for the current membership year has already fallen due — that is, the renewal deadline has passed and you had not renewed — it must be settled before the resignation is accepted, unless the committee waives it. Resignation is not a means of avoiding a subscription that was already payable. Resigning before the deadline leaves nothing outstanding.

11. Events #

Places at events may be limited and are allocated on the terms stated for that event. Some events carry a separate fee.

We may photograph or record our events for Association publicity. Please inform the organiser before or during the event if you do not wish to appear in photographs or videos, and we will not use your image.

We may change or cancel an event. Where a separately-charged event is cancelled by us, the event section of our Refund Policy applies.

12. Content and intellectual property #

All content on our website and portal — including the Mangala United name, logo, text, images and design — belongs to the Association or its licensors and may not be reproduced or used commercially without our prior written consent.

Anything you submit to us must be yours to submit and must not infringe anyone else's rights. By submitting it, you grant us a non-exclusive licence to use it for the purpose you submitted it for.

13. Service availability #

We aim to keep the portal available at all times but cannot guarantee it. We may suspend access for maintenance, and will give notice in advance where we reasonably can.

14. Third-party services #

The portal relies on Razorpay for payments and, optionally, Google for sign-in. Your use of those services is governed by their own terms — Razorpay Terms and Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the content or practices of third-party sites we link to.

15. Liability #

Mangala United is a volunteer-run community association. We provide the website, portal and events in good faith and with reasonable care, but:

• participation in our events, including sporting events, is at your own risk. Members are responsible for ensuring they are medically fit to participate;
• we are not liable for loss or damage to your personal property at our events;
• we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss;
• where liability cannot lawfully be excluded, our total liability to you is limited to the membership fee you paid for the current term.

Nothing here excludes liability that cannot be excluded under Indian law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

16. Changes to these terms #

We may update these terms. Changes are published here with a new version number and effective date. For material changes we will email members at least 14 days in advance. Continuing as a member after the effective date means you accept the revised terms.

17. Governing law and disputes #

These terms are governed by the laws of India. The courts at Mangaluru, Karnataka have exclusive jurisdiction.

Before starting proceedings, please raise the matter with us first — most issues are resolved quickly and informally.

18. Contact #