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9 1955

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1955

Chapter II.

Amendments of the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 .

The Principal Act.

25. —(1) In this Chapter of this Part of this Act “the Principal Act” means the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 (No. 39 of 1926).

(2) Wherever the Principal Act has been applied by any other Act to any particular office or employment or in relation to any board, committee, or other body (whether corporate or unincorporated), the Principal Act shall apply to such office or employment or in relation to such body with and subject to the amendments thereof effected by the subsequent sections of this Chapter of this Part of this Act.

Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act.

26. Section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of “(not being a temporary office, a part-time office as engineer or surveyor under the council of an urban district or the commissioners of a town or an office as a teacher)” for “and every employment (not being an office or employment as a teacher)” and by the deletion of “or technical” in that paragraph.

Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act.

27. —(1) Section 6 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsections:—

“(5) Subsection (4) of this section shall have effect subject to the proviso that where the local authority specify a period (not less than three months) within which the person who is recommended by the Commissioners or who is thought proper by the local authority to be appointed (as the case may be) is to take up duty and notify him of the period so specified, the local authority shall not appoint him unless he takes up duty within that period.

(6) If a person referred to in subsection (5) of this section does not take up duty within the period notified to him—

(a) the local authority shall request the Commissioners to recommend to them a person for appointment to the office,

(b) if the local authority does not, within three months after the expiration of the said period, request the Commissioners to recommend to them a person for appointment to the office, the Minister may on behalf of the local authority request the Commissioners to recommend to the local authority a person for appointment to the office,

(c) when a request has been made as aforesaid by the local authority or the Minister (as the case may be), subsections (3), (4) and (5) of this section and this subsection shall apply by reference to such request.”

(2) As well as applying in any case in which a request or recommendation is made under section 6 of the Principal Act after the commencement of this section, the provisions contained in subsection (1) of this section shall also apply in any case in which, on such commencement, a request which has not been followed by a recommendation or a recommendation which has not been followed by an appointment stands made under the said section 6.

Amendment of section 10 of Principal Act.

28. Section 10 of the Principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

(I) in subsection (1) “such fee (including, where the Commissioners consider it appropriate, a charge for medical examination) as the Commissioners, after consultation with the Minister, shall think proper” shall be substituted for “such fee as the Commissioners, after consultation with the Minister, shall think proper”,

(II) the following subsection shall be added to the section:

“(3) The fee which may be charged in pursuance of this section may be fixed from time to time by the Commissioners, after consultation with the Minister, generally in respect of all offices of a particular grade.”

Dispensing with competitive examination.

29. —(1) Where the Local Appointments Commissioners, with the concurrence of the appropriate Minister, are of opinion that, having regard to the nature of the duties of a particular office to which the Principal Act applies or of all such offices of a particular class, description or grade, to the knowledge and experience necessary for the efficient performance of those duties and to the qualifications (whether existing or proposed) for such office or offices, the person or persons to be recommended for appointment to such office or offices cannot be satisfactorily selected by competitive examination, the Local Appointments Commissioners may, as respects such office or offices, dispense with the competitive examination required by the Principal Act and may select the person or persons to be recommended by them in such manner as they think proper.

In this section “the appropriate Minister” has the same meaning as “the Minister” has in the Principal Act as amended and adapted by subsequent enactments.

(2) Section 9 of the Principal Act shall not apply in any case as respects which subsection (1) of this section is applicable unless the Local Appointments Commissioners have, before the commencement of this section, dispensed with competitive examination in such case pursuant to the said section 9.

Panels of persons qualified for appointment to offices.

30. —(1) In this section “panel classification” means any class, description or grade of office determined for the purposes of this section by the Local Appointments Commissioners.

(2) The Local Appointments Commissioners, if they so think fit, may, in accordance with rules under subsection (4) of this section, arrange from time to time for examining, as respects all or any of the offices of a particular panel classification, the qualifications of persons desirous of being appointed to any vacancies that exist or may occur and for preparing a panel of such persons from which a recommendation may be made in compliance with a request (received either before or after the completion of the panel) under section 6 of the Principal Act or subsection (2) of section 4 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940).

(3) Where the Local Appointments Commissioners are requested under section 6 of the Principal Act or subsection (2) of section 4 of the County Management Act, 1940 (No. 12 of 1940), to recommend a person for appointment to an office of a panel classification, the Local Appointments Commissioners, if they so think fit, may select a person from the relevant panel prepared under subsection (2) of this section and recommend such person for appointment.

(4) The Local Appointments Commissioners may, with the consent of the appropriate Minister, make rules for the purposes of subsection (2) of this section applying either generally to all panel classifications or to any particular panel classification.

In this section “the appropriate Minister” has the same meaning as “the Minister” has in the Principal Act, as amended and adapted by subsequent enactments.