PART VI
TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS, ASSETS, RIGHTS, LIABILITIES AND EMPLOYEES, ETC
Transfer of functions, duties and powers to Board
18.—(1)  As from 1st January 1983, there shall be transferred to the Board —
(a)all the functions, duties and powers of the Controller of Imports and Exports under the Control of Imports and Exports Act; and
(b)all the functions, duties and powers of the Registrar of Imports and Exports under the Registration of Imports and Exports Act.
(2)  Where in any written law or any document there is a reference to the Controller of Imports and Exports or the Registrar of Imports and Exports in connection with or related to the performance of any of the functions, duties and powers that are transferred to the Board under subsection (1) the written law or document shall have effect as if the Board had originally been referred to in the written law or document instead of the Controller of Imports and Exports or the Registrar of Imports and Exports, as the case may be.
(3)  The Board may delegate to any of its officers all or any of the functions, duties and powers transferred to the Board under subsection (1).
Transfer of Timber Industry Board property, rights, liabilities and interests
19.  As from 1st January 1983 —
(a)all the estates and interests in the lands which immediately before that date were vested in the Timber Industry Board shall vest in the Board without further assurance subject to any subsisting encumbrances; and the Board shall have the power to execute any instrument under the Land Titles Act [Cap. 157], disposing of or creating an interest in any of the lands so vested in the Board;
(b)all movable property, including moneys, and all rights and interests of every description which immediately before that date were vested in the Timber Industry Board shall vest in the Board without further assurance, conveyance or other instrument; and
(c)all outstanding liabilities incurred before that date by the Timber Industry Board shall be transferred to the Board and shall thereafter be discharged by the Board.
Transfer of employees
20.—(1)  As from 1st January 1983 every person employed by the Timber Industry Board and such categories of persons employed in the Department of Trade as the Minister may determine immediately before that date shall be transferred to the service of the Board on terms not less favourable than those enjoyed by them immediately prior to their transfer.
(2)  Until such time as regulations are made by the Board, the regulations relating to the schemes and terms and conditions of service in the Government or the Timber Industry Board shall continue to apply to every person transferred to the service of the Board under subsection (1) as if he were still in the service of the Government or the Timber Industry Board, as the case may be.
(3)  Notwithstanding subsection (1), such categories of persons who are transferred to the service of the Board, as the Minister may determine, shall as soon as practicable be given the option of remaining in the service of the Government.
Pension rights, etc., of Government employees to be preserved
21.—(1)  The Board may make regulations to provide for the payment to any person transferred to the service of the Board under section 20 or their dependants of benefits not less in value than the amount of pension, provident fund, gratuity or allowance for which those persons would have been eligible under the Pensions Act [Cap. 225] had they continued in the service of the Government; and any such regulations relating to the length of service with the Board shall provide for the recognition of service under the Government by persons so transferred to be service by them under the Board.
(2)  Nothing in the regulations to be made under subsection (1) shall adversely affect the conditions that would have been applicable to persons transferred to the service of the Board from their service with the Government as regards any pension, gratuity or allowance payable under the Pensions Act.
(3)  Where any person who is transferred to the service of the Board under section 20 is a contributor under the Widow’s and Orphans’ Pension Act [Cap. 350], he shall, for the purposes of that Act, continue to make contributions under that Act as if he had not been transferred to the service of the Board and, for the purposes of that Act, his service with the Board shall be deemed to be service with the Government, and the Board shall have the right to make deductions from the salary of that person to be paid as contributions under that Act.
(4)  In every case where a person has been transferred to the service of the Board under section 20, the Government shall be liable to pay to the Board such portion of any gratuity, pension or allowance payable to that person on his retirement or otherwise leaving the service of the Board as the same shall bear to the proportion which the aggregate amount of his pensionable emoluments during his service with the Government bears to the aggregate amount of his pensionable emoluments during his service under both the Government and the Board.
No benefits for abolition or reorganisation of office
22.  Notwithstanding the provisions of the Pensions Act [Cap. 225], no person who is transferred to the service of the Board under section 20 shall be entitled to claim any benefit under the Pensions Act on the ground that he has been retired from the service of the Government on account of abolition or reorganisation of office in consequence of the establishment and incorporation of the Board.
Existing contracts
23.  All deeds, bonds, contracts, agreements and instruments subsisting immediately before 1st January 1983 affecting the Timber Industry Board or any employee of the Government or of the Timber Industry Board transferred to the service of the Board under section 20 shall continue in force on and after that date and shall be enforceable by or against the Board as if, instead of the Government or the Timber Industry Board or any person acting on behalf of the Government or the Timber Industry Board, the Board had been named therein or had been a party thereto.
Pending proceedings
24.  Any proceedings or cause of action pending or existing immediately before 1st January 1983 by or against the Timber Industry Board or any person acting on its behalf may be continued and shall be enforced by or against the Board.
Continuation and completion of disciplinary proceedings
25.—(1)  Where on 1st January 1983 any disciplinary proceedings were pending against any employee of the Government or the Timber Industry Board transferred to the service of the Board the proceedings shall be carried on and completed by the Board; but where, on that date, any matter was in the course of being heard or investigated or had been heard or investigated by a committee acting under the authority of the Government or the Timber Industry Board but no order or decision had been rendered thereon, the committee shall complete the hearing or investigation and make such order, ruling or direction as it could have made under the authority vested in it before the appointed day.
(2)  An order, ruling or direction made or given by a committee pursuant to this section shall be treated as an order, ruling or direction of the Board and have the same force or effect as if it had been made or given by the Board pursuant to the authority vested in the Board under this Act.
Misconduct or neglect of duty by employee before transfer
26.  The Board may reprimand, reduce in rank, retire, dismiss or punish in some other manner any person who had, whilst he was in the employment of the Government or the Timber Industry Board, been guilty of any misconduct, omission or neglect of duty which would have rendered him liable to be reprimanded, reduced in rank, retired, dismissed or punished in some other manner by the Government or the Timber Industry Board if this Act had not been enacted.