National Cadet Corps Bill

Bill No. 24/1972

Read the first time on 2nd June 1972.

An Act to provide for the raising and maintenance of a National Cadet Corps and for matters connected therewith; and to repeal the Malayan Air Training Corps Act (Chapter 231) and the Singapore Sea Cadet Corps Act (Chapter 236).

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 National Cadet Corps Act, 1972, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“cadet” means a person enrolled in the Corps under section 8 of this Act;

“Commandant” means the person for the time being appointed under section 6 of this Act;

“commanding officer” means an officer for the time being commanding a unit of the Corps;

“Corps” means the National Cadet Corps established under this Act;

“Council” means the National Cadet Corps Council established under section 5 of this Act;

“member” means any officer or cadet appointed or enrolled in the Corps, as the case may be, and includes a person undergoing an officer cadet course;

“officer” means a person appointed as such by the Minister under section 9 of this Act;

“permanent resident” means any person who is not subject to any restriction as to his period of residence imposed under the provisions of any written law relating to immigration for the time being in force in Singapore;

“school” has the same meaning as in the Education Act (Cap. 175);

“Singapore Armed Forces” means the Singapore Armed Forces raised under the provisions of the Singapore Armed Forces Act, 1972 (Act 7 of 1972).

Raising and maintenance of the National Cadet Corps

3. There shall be raised and maintained in the manner hereinafter provided a Corps to be known as the National Cadet Corps.

Organisation

4.—(1) The Corps shall consist of such headquarters, units, training institutions, services, departments or other like bodies as the Minister may from time to time establish.

(2) The Corps shall be a unified corps consisting of land, maritime and air divisions and shall consist of such numbers of cadets as the Minister may from time to time determine.

(3) The Corps shall be affiliated to the Singapore Armed Forces for the purposes of training but members of the Corps shall not be members of the Singapore Armed Forces.

(4) The Minister may disband any unit, training institution, service, department or other body established under subsection (1) of this section in whole or in part or amalgamate any such unit, training institution, services, department or other body or alter their name or title thereof.

Establishment of National Cadet Corps Council

5.—(1) For the purpose of the administration of matters relating to the Corps there shall be established the National Cadet Corps Council consisting of a Chairman to be appointed by the Minister, a Deputy Chairman and two members to be nominated by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and such other members as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

(2) The Council shall be empowered to delegate any of its functions and powers to any officer of the Singapore Armed Forces or to any officer appointed under this Act.

(3) The Council may meet at such intervals as it thinks fit and may regulate its own procedure.

Appointment of Commandant

6.—(1) The Minister shall, on the recommendation of the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, appoint a Commandant who shall exercise executive command of the Corps and who shall be responsible to the Council in matters of administration affecting recruitment, promotion, training, conditions of service, finance and discipline of the Corps.

(2) The Commandant may from time to time make such general or routine orders not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder for the control, direction and information of the Corps as he thinks fit and it shall not be necessary to publish such general or routine orders in the Gazette.

(3) The Council may appoint a Deputy Commandant and so many other Assistant Commandants as the Council may think necessary to assist the Commandant in the general administration of matters relating to the Corps.

Command and affiliation

7. The Minister may, on the recommendation of the Council, place the Corps or any unit thereof under the command of any officer of the Singapore Armed Forces or affiliate any unit to a unit of the Singapore Armed Forces.

Eligibility

8.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and the regulations made thereunder any person who is a citizen of Singapore or a permanent resident thereof shall be eligible to be enrolled as a cadet in the Corps.

(2) The Minister may in special cases approve the enrolment of persons who are neither citizens of Singapore nor permanent residents thereof in the Corps.

Appointment of officers, honorary officers and honorary instructors

9.—(1) The Minister may appoint officers of the Corps from among the teaching staff of any school or from among members of the Corps.

(2) The Minister may appoint honorary officers to the Corps from among such persons as he thinks fit.

(3) The Minister may appoint persons who are not members of the Corps who wish to volunteer their services to the Corps as honorary instructors.

(4) An officer, honorary officer or honorary instructor of the Corps may, with the approval of the Minister, at any time resign his appointment.

(5) The Minister may, with or without assigning any reason therefor, revoke the appointment of any officer, honorary officer or honorary instructor.

Secondment of Singapore Armed Forces personnel

10. The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence may second a member or members of the Singapore Armed Forces for service in the Corps on a full-time or part-time basis.

Discharge and dismissal

11.—(1) Subject to the regulations made under this Act, every cadet may be discharged from the Corps on the expiration of the period for which he was enrolled.

(2) The Commandant may, on the recommendation of the commanding officer, dismiss any cadet.

(3) In the case of a cadet who is a student of a school, the concurrence of the principal of the school to which the cadet belongs to the dismissal of the cadet shall be obtained by the Commandant.

Disobedience of regulations, standing orders, etc.

12. Any cadet who —

(a)	in such manner as to show wilful defiance of authority, disobeys any lawful command given to him or conveyed to him personally; or
(b)	contravenes or fails to comply with any order or regulation made under this Act, being order or regulation known to him or which he might reasonably be expected to know,

shall be dealt with summarily by his commanding officer in the manner prescribed in regulations made under this Act.

Punishment

13. Where a commanding officer deals with a case summarily he may if he records a finding of guilt award one or more of the following punishments: —

(a)	suspension of membership in the Corps for a period not exceeding three months;
(b)	where the cadet holds a rank, reduction in rank;
(c)	reprimand.

Board of inquiry

14.—(1) If the Commandant has reason to believe that an officer has committed a breach of any order or regulation made under this Act, he shall be empowered to convene a board of inquiry to investigate and report on the facts relating to such matter and a board of inquiry shall, if directed to do so, express its opinion on any question arising out of any matter referred to the board.

(2) A board of inquiry shall consist of a president who shall be an officer not below the rank of captain either belonging to the Singapore Armed Forces or appointed under this Act and not less than two other persons one of whom shall be a nominee of the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education.

(3) If the board of inquiry is of the opinion that an officer of the Corps is guilty of a breach of any order or regulation made under this Act, it shall recommend to the Commandant which of the following punishments or a combination of them should be imposed on the officer: —

(a)	reprimand;
(b)	reduction in rank;
(c)	dismissal from the Corps.

Compensation for death or personal injury

15. It shall be lawful for the Minister to compensate in accordance with regulations made under this Act any member of the Corps or his dependants for death or personal injury arising out of or in the execution of his duty and which is attributable solely to the discharge of his duty.

Liability

16.—(1) For the purposes of this section “member” includes an honorary officer and an honorary instructor appointed under section 9 of this Act.

(2) Nothing done or omitted to be done by a member of the Corps while on duty as such shall subject either him or the Government to liability in tort for causing the death of another person, or for causing personal injury to another person, in so far as the death or personal injury is due to anything suffered by that other person while he is a member of the Corps if —

(a)	at the time when that thing is suffered by that other person, he is either on duty as a member of the Corps or is, though not on duty as such, on any land, premises, ship, aircraft or vehicle for the time being used for the purposes of the Corps; and
(b)	the Minister certifies that his suffering that thing has been or will be treated as attributable to service for the purposes of entitlement to compensation under section 15 of this Act:

Provided that this subsection shall not exempt a member of the Corps from liability in tort in any case in which the court is satisfied that the act or omission was not connected with the execution of his duties as a member of the Corps.

(3) No proceedings in tort shall lie against the Government for death or personal injury due to anything suffered by a member of the Corps if —

(a)	that thing is suffered by him in consequence of the nature or condition of any such land, premises, ship, aircraft or vehicle as aforesaid, or in consequence of the nature or condition of any equipment or supplies used for the purposes of the Corps; and
(b)	the Minister certifies that his suffering that thing has been or will be treated as attributable to service for the purposes of entitlement to compensation under section 15 of this Act,

nor shall any act or omission of an officer of the Government subject him to liability in tort for the death or personal injury, in so far as the death or personal injury is due to anything suffered by a member of the Corps if —

(i)	at the time when that thing is suffered by that other person, he is either on duty as a member of the Corps or is, though not on duty as such, on any land, premises, ship, aircraft or vehicle for the time being used for the purposes of the Corps; and
(ii)	the Minister certifies that his suffering that thing has been or will be treated as attributable to service for the purposes of entitlement to compensation under section 15 of this Act.

(4) The Minister may, if satisfied that it is the fact —

(a)	that a person was or was not on any particular occasion on duty as a member of the Corps; or
(b)	that at any particular time any land, premises, ship, aircraft, vehicle, equipment or supplies was or was not, or were or were not, used for the purposes of the Corps,

issue a certificate certifying that to be the fact; and any such certificate shall, for the purposes of this section, be conclusive as to the fact which it certifies.

Exemptions

17. Nothing in the Arms Offences Act (Cap. 94), the Firearms and Ammunition (Unlawful Possession) Act (Cap. 100) and the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act (Cap. 97), shall apply to members of the Corps whilst on parade or in the course of their duty.

Regulations

18.—(1) The Council may, with the approval of the Minister, make such regulations as may be necessary or expedient to carry out the provisions of this Act.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the Council may make regulations relating to —

(a)	the organisation, control, administration and discipline of the Corps;
(b)	training;
(c)	the appointment, promotion, advancement or reduction in rank of officers and the termination of services of officers;
(d)	the age and other qualifications for cadet membership, promotion, advancement or reduction in rank of cadets and dispensation with the services of cadets;
(e)	the payment of allowances;
(f)	the award of decorations;
(g)	the award of compensation in respect of death or personal injury arising out of or in the execution of duty and which is solely due to and attributable to the discharge of such duty;
(h)	dress.

Transfer of officers and cadets

19. All persons who immediately before the date of the coming into operation of this Act were officers commissioned or persons enrolled in the Army Cadet Corps, the Singapore Sea Cadet Corps and the Singapore Air Training Corps shall be deemed to be officers appointed or persons enrolled under this Act, as the case may be; and such officers and persons so appointed and enrolled, respectively, shall have the rank and seniority not less favourable than those accorded to them immediately before the date of the coming into operation of this Act.

Repeal

20. The Malayan Air Training Corps Act (Cap. 231) and the Singapore Sea Cadet Corps Act (Cap. 236) are hereby repealed.

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