PART VII
GENERAL
Power to enter upon lands for purposes of this Act
54.—(1)  The Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or any officer authorised by either of them in that behalf may, for the purposes of this Act, enter at all reasonable hours in the daytime into and upon any building or land without being liable to any legal proceedings or molestation whatsoever on account of such entry.
(2)  The Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or any such authorised officer shall not enter into any dwelling-house in actual occupation, unless with the consent of the occupier thereof, without 6 hours’previous notice to the occupier.
Penalty for obstructing Comptroller, etc., in carrying out his duties
55.  Any person who at any time hinders, obstructs or molests the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or any other officer in the performance and execution of his duty or of anything which he is empowered or required to do by virtue of or in consequence of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.
[46/96]
Offence to furnish false information
55A.  Any person who furnishes information which he knows or believes to be false in any application made under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
[46/96]
Receipts and notices may be given by authorised officer
56.—(1)  All notices, orders, receipts, warrants and other documents of whatsoever nature which the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor is empowered to give by this Act or under any subsidiary legislation made thereunder may be given by any employee authorised thereunto by the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor.
[46/96]
(2)  Where any such notice, order, warrant or document requires authentication, the signature or a facsimile thereof of the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or any employee authorised thereunto by the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor affixed thereto shall be sufficient authentication.
Service of notices
57.—(1)  Every notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on any person may be served —
(a)by delivering it to that person or to some adult member or employee of his family at his last known place of residence;
(b)by leaving it at his usual or last known place of residence or business in an envelope addressed to him; or
(c)by sending it by ordinary post addressed to the person at his usual or last known place of residence or business.
[46/96]
(2)  Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises shall be deemed to be properly addressed if addressed by the description of the “owner” or “occupier” of the premises without further name or description.
[46/96]
(3)  Any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises may be served by delivering the same or a true copy thereof to some adult person on the premises or, if there is no such person on the premises to whom the same can with reasonable diligence be delivered, by affixing the notice, order or document to some conspicuous part of the premises.
[46/96]
(4)  Where any premises is owned by more than one person, any notice, order or document required or authorised by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be served on the owner of such premises shall be deemed to be sufficiently served if it is served on any one of the owners, except that where any such owner has notified the Chief Assessor in the prescribed form, he shall be served a copy of such notice, order or document.
[46/96]
Service of summons
57A.—(1)  Every summons issued by a court against any person in connection with any offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder, may be served on the person —
(a)by delivering the summons to the person or to some adult member of his family at his last known place of residence;
(b)by leaving the summons at his usual or last known place of residence or business in an envelope addressed to the person;
(c)by sending the summons by registered post addressed to the person at his usual or last known place of residence or business;
(d)where the person is a body of persons, corporate or unincorporate —
(i)by delivering the summons to the secretary or other like officer of the body of person at its registered office or principal place of business; or
(ii)by sending the summons by registered post addressed to the body of persons at its registered office or principal place of business.
[46/96]
(2)  Any summons sent by registered post in accordance with subsection (1) shall be deemed to be duly served on the person to whom the letter is addressed at the time when the letter would, in the ordinary course of post, be delivered and in proving service of the summons, it shall be sufficient to prove that the envelope containing the summons was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered post.
[46/96]
Court for trial of offences under this Act
58.—(1)  A District Court or a Magistrate’s Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all offences under this Act and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 68), shall have power to impose the full penalty or punishment in respect of any offence under this Act.
[46/96]
(2)  All fines imposed for any offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
[46/96]
Comptroller, etc., may direct prosecution
59.—(1)  The Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or such other officer as may be authorised by the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor in that behalf may direct any prosecution for any offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder and may authorise the incurring of such expense as may be necessary to the prosecution.
[46/96]
(2)  Any officer employed in the administration of this Act may conduct such prosecution on behalf of the Comptroller.
Property tax officer may demand names and addresses in certain cases
60.—(1)  Any person who is charged by any officer employed in the administration of this Act with any offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder shall give his name and address to that officer if so required.
[46/96]
(2)  Any person who contravenes against this section or mis-states his name and address shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
[46/96]
Saving of prosecutions under other laws
61.  Nothing in this Act shall prevent any person from being prosecuted under any other law for any act or omission which constitutes an offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder or from being liable under that other law to any other or higher punishment or penalty than that provided by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder, except that no person shall be punished twice for the same offence.
[46/96]
General penalties
62.  Any person guilty of an offence under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.
[24/73; 46/96]
Composition of offences
63.—(1)  The Comptroller may compound any offence under this Act by accepting from the person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum of money not exceeding $5,000.
(2)  The Comptroller before making any offer of composition under subsection (1) shall take into consideration the nature of the offence and the circumstances under which the offence was committed.
[24/73]
(3)  On payment of such sum of money, no further proceedings shall be taken against that person in respect of such offence.
[24/73]
(4)  All sums received for the composition of offences under this section shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
[24/73]
Tax remission
64.  The Minister may, in his discretion, remit wholly or in part, the tax payable by any person —
(a)on the ground of poverty; or
(b)if he is satisfied that it is just and equitable to do so.
[24/73]
Inaccuracies in documents
65.  No misnomer or inaccurate description of any person, premises, building, holding, street or place named or described in any document prepared, issued or served under, by virtue of or for the purposes of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder shall in any way affect the operation of this Act or any such subsidiary legislation as respects that person or place if that person or place is so designated in the document as to be identifiable, and no proceedings taken by virtue of this Act or any such subsidiary legislation shall be invalid for want of form.
[46/96]
Evidence
66.—(1)  The contents of any document prepared, issued or served under or for the purposes of this Act shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to be correct and the production of any book purporting to contain any tax, valuation or assessment made by virtue of this Act shall, without any other evidence whatever, be received as prima facie evidence of the making and validity of the tax, valuation or assessment mentioned therein.
(2)  All records, registers and other documents required by this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder to be kept by the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or any officer employed in the administration of this Act shall be deemed to be public documents and copies or extracts certified by the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or by an officer responsible for the custody thereof to be true copies or extracts, as the case may be, subscribed by the Comptroller or the Chief Assessor or such officer with his name and his official title shall be admissible in evidence as proof of the contents of that document or extract thereof.
[46/96]
Regulations
67.—(1)  The Minister may make regulations —
(a)prescribing the manner in which appeals shall be made to the Board;
(b)prescribing the procedure to be adopted by the Board in hearing appeals and the records to be kept by the Board;
(c)prescribing the places where and the times at which appeals shall be heard by the Board;
(d)prescribing the fees to be paid in respect of any appeal to the Board;
(e)providing for the procedure and manner in which costs in respect of appeals to the Board are to be taxed or determined;
(f)prescribing the forms or any other matter which by this Act is required to be or may be prescribed;
(g)prescribing the time and manner in which an owner of a property shall mark or display the number allotted to such property and the penalties for non-compliance; and
(h)generally for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.
[6/82; 46/96]
(2)  The Minister may, in lieu of making any regulations prescribing the forms which by this Act are required to be or may be prescribed, authorise the Comptroller to prescribe such forms as the Comptroller thinks fit.
[68