Transfer to Board of property, assets and liabilities
30.—(1) As from 1 April 2001, such movable and immovable property vested in the Government as may be determined by the Minister for Finance and used or managed by any of the departments as specified in the Schedule and all assets, interests, rights, privileges, liabilities and obligations of the Government relating to any such department are transferred to and vest in the Board without further assurance, act or deed.
(2) If any question arises as to whether any particular property, or whether any particular asset, interest, right, privilege, liability or obligation has been transferred to or vested in the Board under subsection (1), a certificate under the hand of the Minister for Finance is conclusive evidence that the property, asset, interest, right, privilege, liability or obligation was or was not so transferred or vested.
(3) Any immovable property to be transferred to and vested in the Board under subsection (1) is held by the Board upon such tenure and subject to such terms and conditions as the President may determine.
Transfer of employees
31.—(1) As from 1 April 2001, all persons who immediately before that date were employed by the Government in any of the departments as specified in the Schedule are transferred to the service of the Board on terms no less favourable than those enjoyed by them immediately prior to their transfer.
(2) Until such time as terms and conditions of service are drawn up by the Board, the scheme and terms and conditions of the Government continue to apply to every person transferred to the service of the Board under subsection (1) as if he or she were still in the employment of the Government.
Pension rights, etc., of Government employees to be preserved
32.—(1) The terms and conditions to be drawn up by the Board must take into account the terms and conditions of service (including salaries and accrued rights to leave) enjoyed by the persons transferred to the service of the Board under section 31 while in the employment of the Government.
(2) Any term or condition relating to the length of service with the Board must recognise the length of service of the persons so transferred while in the employment of the Government to be service with the Board.
(3) Nothing in the terms and conditions to be drawn up by the Board is to adversely affect the conditions that would have been applicable to persons transferred to the service of the Board as regards any pension, gratuity or allowance payable under the Pensions Act 1956.
(4) Where a person has been transferred to the service of the Board under section 31, the Government is liable to pay to the Board such portion of any pension, gratuity or allowance payable to the person on his or her retirement as the same bears to the proportion which the aggregate amount of his or her pensionable emoluments during his or her service with the Government bears to the aggregate amount of his or her pensionable emoluments during his or her service under both the Government and the Board.
(5) Where any person in the service of the Board, whose case does not fall within the scope of any pension or other schemes established under this section, retires or dies in the service of the Board or is discharged from such service, the Board may grant to him or her or to such other person or persons wholly or partly dependent on him or her, as the Board thinks fit, such allowance or gratuity as the Board may determine.
No benefits in respect of abolition or reorganisation of office
33. Despite the provisions of the Pensions Act 1956, no person who is transferred to the service of the Board under section 31 is entitled to claim any benefit under that Act on the ground that he or she has been retired from the service of the Government on account of abolition or reorganisation of office in consequence of the establishment and incorporation of the Board.
Existing contracts
34. All deeds, contracts, schemes, bonds, agreements, instruments and arrangements, subsisting immediately before 1 April 2001 to which the Government is a party and relating to any of the departments specified in the Schedule or to any person transferred to the service of the Board under section 31 continue in force on and after that date and are enforceable by or against the Board as if the Board had been named therein or had been a party thereto instead of the Government.
Continuation and completion of disciplinary and other legal proceedings
35.—(1) Where on 1 April 2001, any disciplinary proceedings were pending against any employee of the Government transferred to the service of the Board, the proceedings must be carried on and completed by the Board.
(2) Where on 1 April 2001, any matter was in the course of being heard or investigated or had been heard or investigated by a committee acting under due authority but no order, ruling or decision had been made on the matter, the committee must complete the hearing or investigation and must make an order, ruling or direction that it could have made under the authority vested in it before that date.
(3) Any order, ruling or direction made by a committee pursuant to this section is to be treated as an order, a ruling or a direction of the Board and has the same force or effect as if it had been made by the Board pursuant to the authority vested in the Board under this Act.
(4) All proceedings or causes of action pending or existing immediately before 1 April 2001 by or against the Government in respect of any of the departments specified in the Schedule may be continued, completed and enforced by or against the Board.
Misconduct or neglect of duty by employee before transfer
36. The Board may reprimand, reduce in rank, retire, dismiss or punish in some other manner a person who had, while he or she was in the employment of the Government, been guilty of any misconduct or neglect of duty which would have rendered him or her liable to be reprimanded, reduced in rank, retired, dismissed or punished in some other manner if he or she had continued to be in the employment of the Government and if this Act had not been enacted.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
