TRANSFER OF POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATION UNDERTAKINGS, EMPLOYEES, ETC.
Transfer to Corporation of postal and telecommunication undertakings
24. As from 1st October 1982 the postal undertaking and the telecommunication undertaking shall be transferred to and shall vest in the Corporation without further assurance.
Existing agreements
25. All deeds, bonds, agreements, instruments and working arrangements, subsisting immediately before 1st October 1982, affecting the transferred undertaking or any employee of the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority transferred to the service of the Corporation under section 28 shall continue in force on and after that date and shall be enforceable by or against the Corporation as if, instead of the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority or any person acting on behalf of the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority, the Corporation had been named therein or had been a party thereto.
Pending proceedings
26. Any proceedings or cause of action pending or existing immediately before 1st October 1982 by or against the Government in respect of the Postal Department or by or against the former Telecommunication Authority or any person acting on its behalf may be continued and shall be enforced by or against the Corporation.
Compensation for transferred undertaking
27. As soon as practicable after 1st October 1982, the Corporation shall create and, by way of compensation for the transferred undertaking, issue to the Minister for Finance, a body corporate incorporated under the Minister for Finance (Incorporation) Act [Cap. 183], to hold for the purposes of the Government ordinary stock of a total nominal value to be agreed upon by and between the Minister for Finance and the Corporation.
Transfer of employees
28.—(1) As from 1st October 1982, every person employed in the Postal Department or by the former Telecommunication Authority immediately before that date, shall be transferred to the service of the Corporation on terms not less favourable than those enjoyed by him immediately prior to his transfer.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), persons holding such grades in the Postal Department as the Minister may determine, shall as soon as practicable be given the option of remaining in the service of the Government.
Conditions of service
29.—(1) Until such time as regulations are made by the Corporation, the regulations relating to the schemes and terms and conditions of service in the Government or the former Telecommunication Authority shall continue to apply to every person transferred to the service of the Corporation under section 28 as if he were still in the service of the Government or the former Telecommunication Authority, as the case may be.
(2) Where any person who is transferred to the service of the Corporation under section 28 is a contributor under the Widows’ 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 Corporation and for the purposes of that Act his service with the Corporation shall be deemed to be service with the Government.
(3) Where any person who is transferred to the service of the Corporation under section 28 was an employee of the Government and the person continues to enjoy pension benefits payable under the Pensions Act [Cap. 225], the Government shall be liable to pay to the Corporation such portion of any gratuity, pension or allowance payable to the person on his retirement 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 the Government, the former Telecommunication Authority and the Corporation.
(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Pensions Act, no person who is transferred to the service of the Corporation under section 28 shall be entitled to claim any benefits under that 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 incorporation of the Corporation.
Continuation and completion of disciplinary proceedings
30.—(1) Where on 1st October 1982 any disciplinary proceedings were pending before the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority, the proceedings shall be carried on and completed under and in conformity with this Act as far as practicable, but where on that date any matter was in the course of being heard or investigated by the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority or had been heard or investigated by the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority, and no order or decision had been rendered thereon, the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority shall continue to exist, notwithstanding this Act, for the purpose of completing the hearing or investigation and the making of an order or rendering a decision, as the case may be.
(2) For the purposes of completing a hearing or investigation before it, or making an order or rendering a decision on a matter heard or investigated before 1st October 1982, the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority shall complete the hearing or investigation in accordance with the authority vested in the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority immediately before that date and make such order, rule or direction as the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority could have made under the authority vested in it immediately before that date.
(3) Any order, rule or direction made or given by the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority pursuant to this section shall be treated as an order, rule or direction of the Corporation and have the same force or effect as if it had been made or given by the Corporation pursuant to the authority vested in the Corporation under this Act.
Misconduct or neglect of duty by employee before transfer
31. The Corporation may reprimand, reduce in rank, retire, dismiss or punish in some other manner a person who has, whilst he was in the employment of the Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority, been guilty of any misconduct 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 Postal Department or the former Telecommunication Authority or any other person acting under its authority or direction or otherwise, if this Act had not been enacted.