Central Provident Fund (Amendment No. 2) Bill

Bill No. 18/1978

Read the first time on 14th June 1978.

An Act to amend the Central Provident Fund Act (Chapter 121 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Central Provident Fund (Amendment No. 2) Act, 1978, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Amendment of section 4

2. Section 4 of the Central Provident Fund Act (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the principal Act) is amended by deleting subsection (11) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(11) The Board may make rules for all or any of the purposes of this section and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may make rules —

(a)	for the conduct of its proceedings; and
(b)	for the appointment, promotion, dismissal, termination of service and disciplinary control of all persons employed by the Board.”.

Amendment of section 4A

3. Subsection (3) of section 4A of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after paragraph (d) thereof, the following paragraph: —

“(e)	require any employer to produce for his inspection the audited statements of accounts of his undertaking and other records relating to such accounts and to answer such questions relating thereto as he may think proper to ask;”; and

(b)

by re-lettering the existing paragraph (e) thereof as paragraph (f) and by inserting, immediately after the words “paragraph (d)” therein, the words “or (e)”.

Amendment of section 5

4. Section 5 of the principal Act is amended by deleting subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(2) The Board shall be the trustee of the Fund and all moneys belonging to the Fund may be —

(a)	deposited in a bank or banks approved by the Board; or
(b)	invested in any of the investments authorised by law for the investment of trust money and the Board shall have power to convert the same into cash; or
(c)	used for the purchase of any property for the purposes of the Board and for the construction of buildings for the purposes of the Board and to let the same or part thereof for the purposes of deriving income therefrom and the Board may dispose of all or any part of the aforesaid lands and buildings.

(2A) The land situate at 79 Robinson Road, Singapore, acquired by the Board and the building constructed thereon before the date of the coming into operation of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment No. 2) Act, 1978, shall be deemed to have been purchased and constructed by the Board in pursuance of the powers conferred upon the Board by paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of this section.”.

Amendment of section 6

5. Section 6 of the principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately before the word “Schedule” wherever it appears in subsections (1), (2), (4), (6) and (7) thereof, the word “First”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 8

6. Section 8 of the principal Act is repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Expenses

8. All expenses incurred by the Board including the cost of auditing the accounts of the Fund as provided for in subsection (1) of section 9 of this Act shall be defrayed out of the moneys of the Fund.”.

Amendment of section 11

7. Section 11 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “subsection (6) of section 13” in the fourth line of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the words “subsection (2) of section 13A”; and

(b)

by deleting subsection (4) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(4) After the death of a member of the Fund a person nominated by such member in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1) of section 13A of this Act shall be entitled to withdraw such portion of one-half of the sum standing to the credit of such member in the Fund as is set out in the memorandum executed in accordance with that subsection.”.

Amendment of section 12

8. Subsection (1) of section 12 of the principal Act is amended by deleting the words “subsection (5) of section 13” in the tenth and eleventh lines thereof and substituting therefor the words “subsection (1) of section 13A”.

Amendment of section 13

9. Section 13 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —

“(2) All moneys paid out of the Fund on the death of any member of the Fund shall be deemed to be impressed with a trust in favour of —

(a)	the person or persons nominated under subsection (1) of section 13A of this Act by the deceased member (if any); and
(b)	the person or persons determined by the Public Trustee in accordance with subsection (1) or (2) of section 13A of this Act to be entitled thereto,

but shall be deemed not to form part of the deceased member’s estate or to be subject to his debts. The provisions of this subsection shall be without prejudice to the Estate Duty Act (Cap. 137).”; and

(b)

by deleting subsections (5), (6) and (7) thereof.

New section 13A

10. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 13 thereof, the following section: —

“Moneys payable on the death of a member

13A.—(1) Any member of the Fund may by a memorandum executed in the prescribed manner nominate a person or persons to receive in his or their own right such portions of one-half of the amount payable out of the Fund under subsection (1) of section 12 of this Act on his death as the said memorandum shall indicate and the remaining one-half of such amount shall be paid to the Public Trustee to be distributed according to the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act.

(2) If at the time of the death of a member of the Fund, there is no person nominated under subsection (1) of this section, the total amount payable out of the Fund shall be paid to the Public Trustee to be distributed according to the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act and if any person nominated, other than a widow, is under the age of eighteen years at the time of payment of the amount payable out of the Fund, this portion of the amount payable shall similarly be paid to the Public Trustee for the benefit of such nominated person.

(3) The receipt of a person or persons nominated under subsection (1) of this section or of the Public Trustee shall be a discharge to the Board for such portions of the moneys payable out of the Fund on the death of a member as are payable to such person or persons or the Public Trustee under the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) of this section.

(4) Any nomination made by a member of the Fund under subsection (1) of this section shall be revoked by his marriage.

(5) Save as provided by subsection (6) of this section, any nomination made by a member of the Fund at any time prior to the date of the coming into operation of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment No. 2) Act, 1978, shall be deemed to have been made by the member under the provisions of this section.

(6) The provisions of subsection (5) of this section shall not apply to any nomination made by a member of the Fund who has died at any time before the date of the coming into operation of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment No. 2) Act, 1978.”.

Amendment of section 25

11. Section 25 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “proportion of the” in the fourth line thereof; and
(b)	by deleting the word “is” in the sixth line thereof and substituting therefor the word “are”.

Amendment of section 29

12. Subsection (1) of section 29 of the principal Act is amended by inserting the word “First” immediately before the word “Schedule” in paragraph (h) thereof.

Amendment of the Schedule

13. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately before the word “SCHEDULE” below section 30 (2) thereof, the word “FIRST”.

New Second Schedule

14. The principal Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the First Schedule thereto, the following Schedule: —

“SECOND SCHEDULE

(Section 13A(1) and (2)).

Rules for the Distribution of A Deceased Member’s Contributions

1. In this Schedule —

“child” means a legitimate child and includes any child adopted by virtue of an order of court under any written law for the time being in force in Singapore, Malaysia or Brunei;

“contributions” means the amount payable out of the Fund to the Public Trustee under subsection (1) or (2) of section 13A of this Act;

“issue” includes children and the descendants of deceased children.

2. Where a member is a Muslim, the contributions payable on his death shall be distributed according to the Muslim law.

3. Where a member is a non-Muslim, the contributions payable on his death shall be distributed in accordance with the following Rules: —

Rule 1.

If a member dies leaving a surviving spouse, no issue and no parent, the spouse shall be entitled to the whole of the contributions.

Rule 2.

If a member dies leaving a surviving spouse and issue, the spouse shall be entitled to one-half of the contributions.

Rule 3.

Subject to the rights of the surviving spouse, if any, the contributions of a member who leaves issue shall be distributed by equal portions per stirpes to and amongst the children of such member and such persons as legally represent such children, in case any of the said children be then dead:

Provided that the persons who legally represent the children of a member are their descendants and not their next-of-kin; and

Provided further that the descendants of the member to the remotest degree stand in the place of their parent or other ancestor, and take according to their stocks the share which he or she would have taken.

Rule 4.

If a member dies leaving a surviving spouse and no issue but a parent or parents, the spouse shall be entitled to one-half of the contributions and the parent or parents to the other half of the contributions.

Rule 5.

If there are no descendants, the parent or parents of the member shall take the contributions, in equal portions if there be two parents, subject to the rights of the surviving spouse (if any) as in rule 4 provided.

Rule 6.

If there are no surviving spouse, descendants or parents, the grandparents shall take the whole of the contributions in equal portions.

Rule 7.

If there are no surviving spouse, descendants, parents or grandparents, the brothers and sisters and children of deceased brothers or sisters of the member shall share the contributions in equal portions between the brothers and sisters and the children of any deceased brother or sister shall take according to their stocks the share which he or she would have taken.

Rule 8.

If there are no surviving spouse, descendants, parents, grandparents or brothers and sisters or their children but uncles and aunts of the member, the uncles and aunts shall take the whole of the contributions in equal portions.

Rule 9.

In default of distribution under the foregoing Rules, the persons nominated under subsection (1) of section 13A of the Act who are entitled to receive the contributions which the deceased member is entitled to dispose of by way of a nomination made under that subsection, shall be entitled to the contributions in the same proportion as they are entitled to that part of the contributions which the member may dispose of, or, if no nominee has been appointed, the Government shall be entitled to the whole of the contributions.

Rule 10.

If any member leaves surviving him more wives than one, such wives shall share among them equally the share that the wife of the member would have been entitled to, had such member left one wife only surviving him.

4. For the purpose of distribution —

(a)	there shall be no distinction between those who are related to a person deceased through his father and those who are related to him through his mother nor between those who were actually born in his life-time and those who at the date of his death were only conceived in the womb but who have subsequently been born alive; and
(b)	those related to a person deceased by the half blood shall rank immediately after those of the whole blood related to him in the same degree.”.

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