Local Government Integration Act
(CHAPTER 166)

(Original Enactment: Ordinance 18 of 1963)

REVISED EDITION 1985
(30th March 1987)
An Act to integrate certain functions of the City Council and the Rural Board with those of the Government and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
[1st September 1963]
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Local Government Integration Act.
Transitional provisions
2.—(1)  Any scheme, contract, document, licence, permission or resolution prepared, made, granted or approved under the Municipal Ordinance [1936 Ed. Cap. 133], the Local Government Ordinance 1957 [24/57] and the Burials Ordinance [1955 Ed. Cap. 212], shall, except where otherwise expressly provided in this Act or in any other written law, continue and be deemed to have been prepared, made, granted or approved, as the case may be, under this Act.
(2)  Notwithstanding the repeal of the Municipal Ordinance, the Local Government Ordinance 1957 and the Burials Ordinance, any subsidiary legislation made under those Ordinances, so far as it relates to matters falling within the scope of this Act and is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, shall remain in force within the respective areas of Singapore affected by that subsidiary legislation prior to the repeal of those Ordinances and shall have the force of regulations made under this Act until it has been revoked or replaced by subsidiary legislation issued or made under this Act:
Provided that the Minister may by regulations made under section 92 vary, amend, extend or revoke such subsidiary legislation so remaining in force or any part thereof as he thinks fit.
Interpretation
3.—(1)  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“aerial sign” means any sign, representation, communication or advertisement visible against the sky from any street or public place or any sound audible therefrom made, exhibited or displayed by or by means of an aircraft or other means not attached to premises other than a sign, representation, communication or sound made, exhibited, displayed or used for the purposes of aerial navigation;
“annual value” means annual value within the meaning of the Property Tax Act [Cap. 254];
“arcade” includes verandah;
“building” includes any house, hut, shed or roofed enclosure, whether used for the purpose of a human habitation or otherwise, and also any wall, fence, platform, staging, gate, post, pillar, paling, frame, hoarding, slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing-stage or bridge, or any structure, support or foundation connected to the foregoing;
“Building Authority” means the Deputy Director-General (Development and Building Control) of the Public Works Department;
“City Council” means the City Council of Singapore originally incorporated by Indian Act No. 27 of 1857 and incorporated under and by virtue of the Municipal (Elections—Amendment) Ordinance 1948 [29/48] with the status of a City conferred by Royal Charter dated 24th July 1951 and as constituted under section 6 of the Local Government Ordinance 1957 [24/57];
“competent authority” means any competent authority appointed under section 3 of the Planning Act [Cap. 232].
“dwelling-house” includes a building or tenement wholly or principally used, constructed or adapted for use for human habitation;
“footway” includes footways and verandah-ways at the sides of streets;
“holding” means any piece or parcel of land held or possessed under an instrument of title, capable of being registered under the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269], or where applicable under the Land Titles Act [Cap. 157], relating exclusively thereto;
“house” includes dwelling-house, warehouse, office, counting-house, shop, school, and any other building in which persons are employed;
“Municipal Provident Fund” means the Municipal Provident Fund established by the City Council under the provisions of the Municipal Ordinance [1936 Ed. Cap. 133] and continued and deemed to have been established under the Local Government Ordinance 1957 [24/57];
“occupier” means the person in occupation of the premises in respect of which the word is used or having the charge, management or control thereof either on his own account or as agent of another person, but does not include a lodger;
“owner” means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises in connection with which the word is used whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person or as receiver or who would receive the rent if the premises were let to a tenant and shall for the purposes of section 40 include a mortgagee not in possession and includes the person whose name is entered in the Valuation List authenticated under section 15 of the Property Tax Act [Cap. 254];
“port” means the port within the meaning of the Port of Singapore Authority Act [Cap. 236];
“premises” includes messuages, houses, buildings, lands, tenements, easements and hereditaments of any tenure, whether open or enclosed, whether built on or not, whether public or private, and whether maintained or not under statutory authority;
“private street” means any street not being a public street;
“public bridge” means a bridge which carries a public street;
“public street” means any street over which the public has a right of way which was usually repaired or maintained by the City Council or the Rural Board before the commencement of this Act or which has been transferred to or has become vested in the Government under this Act or in any other manner;
“Public Utilities Board” means the Public Utilities Board established by section 3 of the Public Utilities Act [Cap. 261];
“regular line of street” means a line of street shown on the Master Plan as defined in the Planning Act [Cap. 232], and includes a regular line of street prescribed by the Singapore Improvement Trust under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance [1955 Ed. Cap. 259] and before 1st July 1927 by the Municipal Commissioners of the Town of Singapore;
“Rural Board” means the Rural Board, Singapore, constituted under the Municipal Ordinance [1936 Ed. Cap. 133];
“Singapore Improvement Trust” means the Singapore Improvement Trust constituted under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance;
“sky-sign” means any erection consisting of a frame, hoarding, board, bar, pillar, post, wire or any combination of such things, or any erection of a like nature, or any visible object which floats or is kept in position by wire or other flexible attachment, displayed for the purposes of trade or professional advertisement in such a position as to be conspicuously visible against the sky above the general level of the roofs of surrounding buildings from any street or public place;
“street” includes any road, square, footway or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public has a right of way, and also the way over any public bridge, and also includes any road, footway or passage, open court or open alley, used or intended to be used as a means of access to two or more holdings, whether the public has a right of way thereover or not; and all channels, drains, ditches and reserves at the side of any street shall be deemed to be part of the street;
“street works” includes work of sewering, levelling, paving, metalling, flagging, kerbing, channelling, draining, lighting, laying of water, gas or electricity services and otherwise the making good a street or part of the street;
“trade effluent” means the water-borne waste of any trade, business or manufacture;
“Treasury” means the Minister charged with responsibility for finance and includes any officer under the administrative control or direction of the Minister.
[59/73]
(2)  In any written law and in any document whatsoever, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a local authority or the City Council or the Rural Board or any officer thereof, shall be construed as a reference to the Government, Minister or public officer for the time being, under and by virtue of this Act, discharging the functions performed by such local authority, the City Council, Rural Board or any officer thereof, as the case may be, prior to the commencement of this Act.
Exemption
4.  The Minister may by order published in the Gazette exempt any area or place from the operation of this Act or of any provision thereof.
Transfer of property, etc.
Transfer to Government of assets and liabilities of City Council and Rural Board
5.—(1)  Upon the commencement of this Act, all lands, buildings and other property, movable and immovable, of the City Council and of the Rural Board, including all assets, powers, rights, interests and privileges as well as debts, liabilities and obligations in connection therewith or appertaining thereto, other than those vested in and held by the City Council —
(a)for the purposes of the water, gas and electricity undertakings of the City Council as defined in section 39 of the Public Utilities Act [Cap. 261]; and
(b)in respect of all loans raised by the City Council by the issue of debenture stock and in respect of any other loans raised by the City Council for the purposes of the water, gas and electricity undertakings of the City Council under the provisions of the Municipal Ordinance [1936 Ed. Cap. 133] or of the Local Government Ordinance 1957 [24/57] including the sinking funds created for the redemption of such loans,
shall be deemed to have been transferred to and vested in the Government without further assurance, if it was vested in and held by the City Council or the Rural Board on 31st December 1960, on 1st January 1961, and if it was acquired by the City Council or the Rural Board after 31st December 1960, on the date of commencement of this Act.
(2)  If any question arises as to which of the properties, movable or immovable, have been transferred to and vested in the Government under subsection (1), a certificate under the hand of the Minister shall be conclusive evidence of the vesting of such property, movable or immovable, in the Government.
(3)  The Minister for Finance may, by notification in the Gazette, direct that any of the assets and liabilities so deemed to have been transferred to and vested in the Government shall be transferred to and vested in the Public Utilities Board and they shall be vested in the Board with effect from the date specified in the direction.
(4)  In respect of the movable or immovable property transferred to the Government under this section —
(a)any proceedings pending immediately before the commencement of this Act —
(i)against the City Council or the Rural Board may be continued and enforced against the Government in the name of the City Council or the Rural Board, as the case may be, and the proceedings shall, if continued, comply with the provisions of the Government Proceedings Act [Cap. 121]; and
(ii)by the City Council or the Rural Board may be continued and enforced by the Government in the name of the City Council or the Rural Board, as the case may be, and the proceedings, if continued, shall, notwithstanding the provisions of the Government Proceedings Act, be continued and enforced in accordance with the provisions of any written law and the rules of practice and procedure in force relating to proceedings between private persons; and
(b)any matter or cause of action existing immediately before the commencement of this Act by or against the City Council or the Rural Board may be continued and enforced by or against the Government in accordance with the provisions of any written law and the practice and procedure in force relating to proceedings by or against the Government.
Public streets, sewers and bridges vested in Government
6.—(1)  All public streets, public sewers, public canals, public surface and storm water drains and public bridges and the pavements, stones and other materials thereof, and also all erections, materials, implements and other things provided for them shall be vested in the Government for the purposes of this Act.
(2)  The Minister may declare by notification in the Gazette that any unnavigable river or stream outside the limits of the port, together with such means of access thereto and along the same as are set forth in the declaration, is required for the purposes of this Act, and thereupon the river or stream including its bed specified in the declaration and the land forming that means of access shall become vested in the Government and shall be maintained and cleaned at the expense of the Government.
(3)  The Government shall make full compensation to the owner of any land for any damage which the owner sustains by reason of any such declaration as in subsection (2) mentioned and, if any dispute arises touching the amount of compensation, it shall be ascertained in the manner hereinafter provided:
Provided that the owner shall not be entitled to any compensation for such damage under any other written law for the time being in force.
Property in lamps, etc.
7.  Notwithstanding the provisions of Part IV of the Public Utilities Act [Cap. 261], the property of and in all the lamps, lamp-irons, lamp-posts, posts, chains, poles and rails in, about or belonging to all public streets and public bridges and of and in all iron, timber, stone, bricks and other materials and furniture and things belonging thereto and of and in all public standpipes except when it is otherwise regulated by contract with the Government, shall be deemed to have been transferred to and vested in the Government with effect from such date not earlier than 1st January 1961 as may be directed by the Minister for Finance.
Damage to property
8.—(1)  If any person wilfully removes, destroys or damages any property belonging to the Government by virtue of this Act or acquired by the Government for the purposes thereof, or hinders or prevents such property from being used or operated in the manner in which it is intended to be used or operated, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and a Magistrate’s Court may order him to pay compensation to the Government for any damage done by him.
(2)  Any private person may apprehend any person who in his view commits an offence under this section and shall on such apprehension without unreasonable delay hand over the person so apprehended to a police officer.
(3)  Any person who carelessly or accidentally removes, destroys or damages any property belonging to the Government by virtue of this Act or acquired by the Government for purposes thereof, or hinders or prevents such property from being used or operated in the manner in which it is intended to be used or operated shall pay by way of compensation to the Government such sum of money not exceeding $1,000 as a Magistrate’s Court thinks reasonable. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent the Government from taking legal proceedings for the recovery of the full amount of the damage caused by such person.
Transfer of employees, etc.
Transfer of employees
9.—(1)  Upon the commencement of this Act, every person in the employment of the City Council who is not deemed to have been transferred to the service of the Public Utilities Board under section 42 of the Public Utilities Act [Cap. 261] shall be deemed to be transferred to the service of the Government at the same rate of pay and, as near as may be, on the same conditions of service as those on which he was employed by the City Council:
Provided that in respect of those persons whose appointment to the public service is required by the Constitution to be made by the Public Service Commission, their transfer shall be subject to the approval of the Commission.
(2)  The service under the City Council of every person transferred to the service of the Government under this section shall be deemed to have been service under the Government for the purposes and subject to the provisions of the Pensions Act [Cap. 225].
Safeguarding of Provident Fund benefits
10.—(1)  Until rules are made under section 12, the Municipal (Provident Fund) Rules 1956, as from time to time amended, shall continue to apply to every person transferred to the service of the Government under section 9 who, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was a member of the Municipal Provident Fund, or would have been eligible for membership of that Fund if he had attained the age of 20 years and had passed a medical examination of the standard prescribed, in the like manner as those Rules applied to such persons immediately before the commencement of this Act, and every reference to service or employment with the City Council in those Rules shall be construed as a reference to service or employment with the Government in respect of such persons.
[G.N. Nos. S 179/56; S 201/56]
(2)  Until rules are made under section 12, the provisions of the Municipal (Provident Fund) Rules 1956, as from time to time amended, requiring the City Council to make payments into the Municipal Provident Fund shall apply to the Government and be construed as provisions requiring the Government to make payments into that Fund in respect of every person referred to in subsection (1) who is or who becomes a member of the Fund.
(3)  Persons who have been transferred to the service of the Government under section 9 may count their previous service in the City Council, and their previous membership of the Municipal Provident Fund and their contributions to that Fund, for the purpose of determining the benefits to which they become entitled under this section.
Continuance of Municipal Provident Fund
11.—(1)  The Municipal Provident Fund shall continue and be deemed to have been established under this Act and shall be held, managed and administered as a Government fund separate from other Government funds.
(2)  Until rules are made under section 12, the Municipal (Provident Fund) Rules 1956 shall continue to have effect as though references therein to the powers and duties of the City Council in relation to the management and administration of that Fund were references to the powers and duties of the Minister.
Municipal Provident Fund Rules
12.—(1)  The Minister may make such rules for the maintenance of the Municipal Provident Fund as he may consider desirable and, in particular, for —
(a)the provision of payments or other allowances on death, resignation, retirement or discharge to persons who are members of the Fund or who become members thereof;
(b)the payment of moneys into the Fund by the respective employers of the members of the Fund;
(c)the payment of contributions towards the management expenses of the Fund by the employers; and
(d)the contribution of moneys into the Fund by the members thereof and for their ceasing to be members of the Fund.
Such rules shall not, in respect of every person whose provident fund benefits are safeguarded under section 10, provide for less favourable benefits than those conferred by the Municipal (Provident Fund) Rules 1956.
[S 179/56; S 201/56]
(2)  Subject to subsection (3), no payments or other allowances on death, superannuation, resignation, retirement or discharge made or granted to persons out of the Municipal Provident Fund nor the rights of any contributor acquired thereunder shall be assignable or transferable or liable to be attached, sequestrated or levied upon for or in respect of any debt or claim whatsoever. No such payments or other allowances shall pass to the Official Assignee on the bankruptcy of that person, but if any such person is adjudicated a bankrupt or is declared insolvent by judgment of the court, such payments or other allowances shall be deemed to be impressed with a trust in favour of the objects entitled thereto on the death of that person. The bankruptcy of a member shall not affect the making of deductions from the salary of the member under the rules of the Municipal Provident Fund, but notwithstanding the provisions of any written law such deductions shall continue to be made notwithstanding the bankruptcy and the portion of salary so deducted shall be deemed not to form part of the member’s after-acquired property.
(3)  Notwithstanding subsections (2) and (4), the Minister shall be entitled —
(a)to deduct from the benefits (less such portion of them as shall with interest thereon have been contributed by the member) which would otherwise be payable to a member (or to the trustees or estate of a deceased member) from the Municipal Provident Fund any debt legally due from the member to the Government or his employer; and
(b)at his discretion to deduct the whole or part of the benefits (less such portion of them as shall with interest thereon have been contributed by the member) which would otherwise be payable from the Municipal Provident Fund to a member (or to the trustees or estate of a deceased member) who is dismissed from the service of the Government or his employer after conviction for an offence involving dishonesty which results in pecuniary loss to the Government or his employer, or who would have been so dismissed had he not died, or who retires from or resigns his employment with intent to escape being so dismissed:
Provided that the amount so forfeited shall not exceed the amount of the pecuniary loss to the Government or his employer.
Any sum so deducted from the benefits which would otherwise be payable to a member (or to the trustees or estate of a deceased member) shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund or to his employer, as the case may be.
(4)  Subject to subsection (3), all moneys paid out of the Municipal Provident Fund on the death of any member shall be deemed to be impressed with a trust in favour of the objects entitled thereto under the will or intestacy of such deceased person, and shall not be deemed to form part of his or her estate or be subject to his or her debts but shall be deemed to be property passing on his or her death for the purposes of the Estate Duty Act [Cap. 96].
(5)  Any member may by a memorandum under his hand appoint a trustee or trustees of the moneys payable on his death out of the Municipal Provident Fund and may make provision for the appointment of a new trustee or new trustees of such moneys and for the investment thereof. Such memorandum shall be in such form as may be approved by the Minister and shall be deposited with the Government.
(6)  If at the time of the death of any member or at any time afterwards there is no trustee of such moneys or it is expedient to appoint a new trustee or new trustees, then and in any such case a trustee or trustees or a new trustee or new trustees may be appointed by the High Court or a Judge thereof.
(7)  The receipt of a trustee or trustees duly appointed or in default of any such appointment and of written notice thereof to the Government the receipt of the legal personal representative of a deceased member shall be a discharge to the Government for any moneys payable on his death out of the Municipal Provident Fund.