PART VII | 53. A District Court or a Magistrate’s Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all proceedings under this Act and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68), a District Court shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of any offence provided by this Act except the punishment of death. [49/75] |
54.—(1) The Government shall not be liable to make good any damage caused to any goods or property as a result of an entry, search or detention under the provisions of this Act unless the damage is caused by the wilful neglect or default of an officer employed by the Government.| (2) In the event of any dispute as to the amount of any damage so caused, the same shall be summarily ascertained and determined by a District Court or a Magistrate’s Court. |
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| Protection of persons acting under authority of Act |
| 55. Any person who does any act in pursuance or intended pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act shall not be subject to any civil or criminal liability in respect thereof, whether on the ground of want of jurisdiction, mistake of law or fact, or any other ground, unless he has acted in bad faith or without reasonable care. |
56.—(1) Subject to this section, a prison officer may use any weapon against —| (a) | any inmate of any approved institution escaping or attempting to escape; | | (b) | any person who does any act or attempts to do any act to facilitate the escape of an inmate of any approved institution; or | | (c) | any person engaged in any attempt to damage or force or break open —| (i) | the outside door or gate or enclosure wall of any approved institution or any other part of an approved institution; or | | (ii) | any part of any vehicle in which an inmate is conveyed. [8/2000] |
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(2) A prison officer may use any weapon against —| (a) | any inmate of any approved institution engaged in any combined outbreak; and | | (b) | any person engaged in any attempt to damage or force or break open —| (i) | the outside door or gate or enclosure wall of any approved institution or any other part of an approved institution; or | | (ii) | any part of any vehicle in which an inmate is conveyed, |
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| and may continue to use the weapon so long as the combined outbreak or attempt is actually being prosecuted. |
[8/2000] |
| (3) Every prison officer may use weapons against an inmate of any approved institution using violence against any prison officer or other person, if the prison officer has reasonable ground to believe that the prison officer or other person is in danger of life or limb, or that other grievous hurt is likely to be caused to either of them. [8/2000] |
| (4) A prison officer shall not resort to the use of any weapon under subsection (1) unless the officer has reasonable ground to believe that he cannot otherwise prevent the escape of any inmate. [8/2000] |
| (5) Before using any firearm against an inmate or other person referred to in subsection (1), the prison officer shall give a warning to the inmate or that other person, as the case may be, that he is about to fire on him. [8/2000] |
| (6) No prison officer shall, in the presence of his superior officer, use any firearm against an inmate or other person in the circumstances described in subsection (1) or (2) except under the orders of his superior officer. [8/2000] |
| (7) The use of weapons under this section shall be, as far as possible, to disable and not to kill. [8/2000] |
| (8) Every police officer who is for the time being serving in the capacity of an escort, or of a guard in or around any approved institution, for the purpose of ensuring the safe custody of any inmate, shall be deemed to have all the powers and privileges granted to a prison officer under this section. [8/2000] |
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| Employment of auxiliary police officers as escorts and guards |
| 57.—(1) For the purpose of assisting him in the discharge of his duties under this Act, the Director of Prisons may employ such numbers of auxiliary police officers as he considers fit as escorts or guards to ensure the safe custody of the inmates who are under his custody while the inmates are transported to, or from, any approved institution and while the inmates are at any place outside an approved institution. [8/2000] | (2) An inmate who is delivered into the custody of an auxiliary police officer under this section shall be deemed to be in legal custody within the meaning of section 40. [8/2000] |
| (3) Every auxiliary police officer who is employed as an escort or a guard under subsection (1) shall, in the course of carrying out his duties as an escort or a guard, have the same powers as a prison officer under section 56. [8/2000] |
| (4) Every auxiliary police officer employed under subsection (1) shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 224). [8/2000] |
| (5) For the purpose of this section, “auxiliary police officer” means a member of an auxiliary police force established under any other written law. [8/2000; 3/2005] |
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58.—(1) The Minister may make regulations —| (a) | providing for the issue of licences for the import, export, sale, manufacture, production or distribution of controlled drugs; | | (b) | prescribing the form, duration and terms and conditions of any licence and the fees payable therefor, and providing for the cancellation and suspension thereof; | | (c) | authorising the sale or possession or other dealing in controlled drugs and prescribing the circumstances and conditions under which the persons by whom controlled drugs may be sold, had in possession or otherwise dealt in; | | (d) | requiring medical practitioners, dentists, pharmacists, veterinary surgeons and other persons who deal in controlled drugs as may be authorised by the regulations to keep records and make returns; | | (e) | requiring any medical practitioner who attends to a person whom the medical practitioner considers or has reasonable grounds to suspect is addicted to any controlled drug to furnish to the prescribed authority such particulars with respect to that person as may be prescribed; | | (f) | prohibiting any medical practitioner from administering, supplying and authorising the administration and supply to persons addicted to controlled drugs, and from prescribing for those persons, those drugs; | | (g) | as to the packaging and labelling of controlled drugs; | | (h) | regulating the transport of controlled drugs and the methods to be used for destroying or otherwise disposing of those drugs when no longer required; | | (i) | requiring precautions to be taken for the safe custody of controlled drugs; | | (j) | providing for the inspection of any precautions taken or records kept in pursuance of any regulations made under this section; | | (k) | providing for the treatment and rehabilitation of persons affected by the misuse of controlled drugs; | | (l) | prescribing the punishment by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or both to be imposed on the conviction for a breach of the regulations; | | (m) | providing for the management, maintenance and inspection of approved institutions; | | (n) | prescribing the functions and procedure of Review Committees; | | (o) | providing for the control, discipline (including the imposition of corporal punishment) and occupation of inmates and for the granting of leave to inmates for the purpose of their employment outside an approved institution and to return to their residences or other designated places; | | (p) | prescribing the appointment and duties of officers of approved institutions; | | (q) | providing for the supervision and aftercare of persons referred to in section 34(2)(a), or who have undergone treatment and rehabilitation at approved or other institutions or who have been convicted of an offence under section 8(b); | | (qa) | prescribing the circumstances under which the Director may extend the period for which a person is subject to supervision under this Act; | | (r) | prescribing anything that may be prescribed; | | (s) | prescribing the functions and procedure of advisory committees; | | (t) | requiring the fingerprinting of inmates and the dissemination of this information to the police; | | (u) | prescribing the type of offences in the regulations which may be seizable offences for the purposes of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68); and | | (v) | generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act. [12/77; 28/79; 38/89; 20/98; 2/2006] |
(2) Regulations made by the Minister under this section may —| (a) | make different provisions in relation to different controlled drugs, different classes of persons or different cases or circumstances; | | (b) | make the opinion, consent or approval of any prescribed authority or authorised person material for the purposes of any provision; and | | (c) | provide for the constitution and procedure of a tribunal to advise the Minister in any case of contravention of this Act or the regulations by any medical practitioner, dentist, pharmacist, veterinary surgeon or other authorised person. |
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| Specifying drugs as temporarily listed drugs in Fifth Schedule |
58A.—(1) The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, amend the Fifth Schedule by specifying any drug as a temporarily listed drug in that Schedule if that drug is not specified in Part I, II or III of the First Schedule.(2) Any drug specified in the Fifth Schedule on the date of commencement of section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2012, or any additional drug specified under subsection (1) as a temporarily listed drug, shall be deleted from the Fifth Schedule —| (a) | at the expiry of a period of 12 months commencing from the date the drug is so specified (referred to in this section as the initial period); or | | (b) | at the expiry of a period of 24 months commencing from the date the drug is so specified, if before the expiry of the initial period, the Minister states, by notification published in the Gazette, that the drug shall remain a temporarily listed drug for a further period. |
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| (3) Before the expiry of the period referred to in subsection (2)(a) or (b), the Minister may amend the Fifth Schedule by deleting any drug specified in that Schedule. [Act 30 of 2012 wef 01/05/2013] |
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| Power of Minister to amend First, Third and Fourth Schedules |
| 59. The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, amend the First, Third and Fourth Schedules. [49/75; 20/98] |
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