| Malaysian Ord. 58 of 1956 |
2. The long title to the Government Proceedings Ordinance, 1956, of Malaysia (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the Ordinance”) is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —| “An Ordinance to make provision for proceedings by and against the Government.”. |
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| Repeal and re-enactment of section 1 |
3. Section 1 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —| 1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Government Proceedings Ordinance, 1956. ”. |
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4. Section 2 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —| (a) | by deleting the definitions of “Government”, “High Court”, “Land law” and “State land” appearing in subsection (2) thereof; | | (b) | by deleting the definition of “law officer” appearing in subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —| “ “law officer” means the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General;”; |
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| | (c) | by deleting the definition of “legal officer” appearing in subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —| “ “legal officer” includes a law officer and a legally qualified member of the Attorney-General’s Chambers;”; |
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| | (d) | by deleting the words “a Government” and “such Government” wherever they appear in the definition of “officer” in subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor in each case the words “the Government”; | | (e) | by deleting the words “such Government” appearing in the definition of “proceedings against the Government” in subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the words “the Government”; and | | (f) | by deleting the words “Federal Government” appearing in the proviso to subsection (3) thereof and substituting therefor the word “Government”. |
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5. Section 6 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “appropriate financial officer” wherever they appear in subsection (4) thereof and substituting therefor in each case the words “Minister responsible for finance”; and | | (b) | by deleting subsection (5) thereof. |
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| 6. Section 8 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting subsection (3) thereof. |
7. Section 9 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “the Federation” appearing in subsection (3) thereof and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”; and | | (b) | by deleting (4) thereof. |
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8. Section 14 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “of Finance” appearing in subsections (1) and (2) thereof and substituting therefor in each case the words “responsible for finance”; | | (b) | by inserting immediately after subsection (3) thereof the following new subsection: —| “(3A) No act or omission of a public officer shall subject him to liability in tort for death or personal injury, in so far as the death or personal injury is due to anything suffered by a member of the forces being a thing as to which the conditions mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) are satisfied.”; |
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| | (c) | by deleting the words “the Federation” appearing at the end of paragraph (a) of subsection (4) thereof and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”; and | | (d) | by deleting paragraph (c) of subsection (4) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —| “(c) | “police force” means the police force of Singapore and includes any volunteer, auxiliary or special police force attached to, or coming under the jurisdiction of, the said police force.”. |
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9. Section 15 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —| (a) | by deleting the expression “the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or a Ruler or Governor or the Government, or any powers or authorities conferred on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or a Ruler or Governor” appearing in subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the words “the President or the Government or any powers or authorities conferred on the President”; and | | (b) | by deleting the expression “the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or a Ruler or Governor or the Government, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong” appearing in subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the expression “the President or the Government, the President”. |
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10. The Ordinance is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 18 thereof the following new sections: —18A.—(1) The Minister shall from time to time publish in the Gazette a list specifying the several Government departments which are authorised departments for the purposes of this Ordinance, and the name and address for service of the person who is, or is acting for the purposes of this Ordinance, as, the solicitor for each such department, and may from time to time amend or vary the said list.| (2) Civil proceedings by the Government may be instituted either by an authorised Government department in its own name or by the Attorney-General. |
| (3) Civil proceedings against the Government shall be instituted against the appropriate authorised Government department, or, if none of the authorised Government departments is appropriate or the person instituting the proceedings has any reasonable doubt whether any and if so which of those departments is appropriate, against the Attorney-General. |
(4) Where any civil proceedings against the Government are instituted against the Attorney-General, an application may at any stage of the proceedings be made to the court by or on behalf of the Attorney-General to have such of the authorised Government departments as may be specified in the application substituted for him as defendant to the proceedings; and where any such proceedings are brought against an authorised Government department, an application may at any stage of the proceedings be made to the court on behalf of that department to have the Attorney-General or such of the authorised Government departments as may be specified in the application substituted for the applicant as the defendant to the proceedings.| Upon any such application the court may if it thinks fit make an order granting the application on such terms as the court thinks just; and on such order being made the proceedings shall continue as if they had been commenced against the department specified in that behalf in the order, or, as the case may require, against the Attorney-General. |
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| (5) No proceedings instituted in accordance with this Part of this Ordinance by or against the Attorney-General or an authorised Government department shall abate or be affected by any change in the person holding the office of Attorney-General or in the person or body of persons constituting the department. |
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| 18B. All documents required to be served on the Government for the purpose of or in connection with any civil proceedings by or against the Government shall, if those proceedings are by or against an authorised Government department, be served on the solicitor, if any, for that department, or the person, if any, acting for the purposes of this Ordinance as solicitor for that department, or if there is no such solicitor and no person so acting, or if the proceedings are brought by or against the Attorney-General on the Attorney-General. ”. |
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| Repeal of sections 21 and 22 |
| 11. Sections 21 and 22 of the Ordinance are hereby repealed. |
| 12. Subsection (2) of section 23 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “the Federation” appearing therein and substituting therefor the word “Singapore”. |
| Repeal and re-enactment of section 24 |
13. Section 24 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —| “Appearance of legal officers |
24.—(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law, in civil proceedings by or against the Government a legal officer may appear as advocate on behalf of the Government and may make and do all appearances, acts and applications in respect of such proceedings on behalf of the Government.(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any written law, in civil proceedings to which a public officer is a party —| (a) | by virtue of his office; or | | (b) | in his personal capacity, if the Attorney-General certifies in writing that it is in the public interest that such public officer should be represented by a legal officer, |
| a legal officer may appear as advocate on behalf of such public officer and shall be deemed to be the recognised agent of such public officer by whom all appearances, acts and applications in respect of such proceedings may be made or done on behalf of such public officer. |
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| (3) An advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court, retained by the Attorney-General in the case of civil proceedings by or against the Government or a public officer, may appear as advocate on behalf of the Government or the public officer in such proceedings. |
| (4) In civil proceedings to which the Attorney-General is a party under section 8 or 9, a legal officer may appear as advocate and make and do all appearances, acts and applications in respect of such proceedings on behalf of the Attorney-General.”. |
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| Repeal of sections 25 and 26 |
| 14. Sections 25 and 26 of the Ordinance are hereby repealed. |
| Repeal and re-enactment of section 27 |
15. Section 27 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —| “Transfer of proceedings to High Court |
27.—(1) If, at any stage in any civil proceedings in a District Court to which the Government is a party, an application is made by the Government to the High Court that by reason that the proceedings may involve an important question of law or may be decisive of other cases arising in the same matter or that it is otherwise desirable in the public interest or for any other reason that such proceedings should be transferred to the High Court, and there is produced to the High Court a certificate of the Attorney-General to that effect, the High Court shall order the proceedings to be transferred to the High Court.| (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), if it appears to the High Court that the removal of the proceedings in accordance with such provisions is likely to occasion substantial additional expenses to any party to the proceedings other than the Government, the High Court may refuse to grant the application unless the Government enters into an undertaking that it will, on or before such date as the High Court may specify, pay to such other party such sum of money as, in the opinion of the High Court, is necessary to cover the additional expense likely to be so occasioned to such party. The amount of such sum of money shall be ascertained in such manner as the High Court may direct. |
| (3) If upon the taxation of the costs of the proceedings, it appears to the High Court or the Registrar that such sum of money was greater or less than the additional expense actually incurred by the party, the High Court or the Registrar may in its or his discretion order that the amount of the excess or the deficiency, as the case may be, should be repaid by the party to the Government or paid by the Government to the party respectively, and any such amount shall be recoverable as if it were costs awarded in such proceedings to the party entitled to receive the same, but subject as aforesaid no sum or any part thereof paid by the Government in accordance with such undertaking shall be recoverable by the Government as costs or otherwise whatever the event of the proceedings.”. |
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| 16. Section 30 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the expression “ordinances, enactments” appearing therein and substituting therefor the expression “Acts, Ordinances”. |
| 17. Subsection (5) of section 31 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the word “Treasury” appearing therein and substituting therefor the words “Consolidated Fund”. |
| 18. Section 35 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by delating subsection (3) thereof. |
| 19. Section 36 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting subsection (3) thereof. |
| Repeal of sections 38 and 41 |
| 20. Sections 38 and 41 of the Ordinance are hereby repealed. |
| 21. Subsection (4) of section 42 of the Ordinance is hereby amended by deleting the words “laid before the Legislative Council and if at the next meeting of the Council after any such rule is laid before it” appearing therein and substituting therefor the words “presented to Parliament and if at the next meeting of Parliament after any such rule is presented”. |
| 22. Section 44 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed. |
23. Subsection (1) of section 45 of the Ordinance is hereby amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “Yang di-Pertuan Agong or a Ruler or Governor” appearing therein and substituting therefor the word “President”; and | | (b) | by deleting paragraph (g) of subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the following: —| “(g) | apply to any proceedings by or against the Official Assignee or the Public Trustee or affect any liability imposed on the Public Trustee or on the revenues of Singapore by the Public Trustee Ordinance (Cap. 32); or”. |
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| Repeal of section 46 and Schedule |
| 24. Section 46 and the Schedule to the Ordinance are hereby repealed. |
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