Singapore legislation
Section 12
Section 12
Requisitioning of property other than land
(1)
Subject to this section, a competent authority may, if it appears to the competent authority to be necessary or expedient to do so in the defence of the country, or for the securing of the public safety or the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community, or for the conduct of exercises for those purposes, requisition —
any chattel in Singapore; and
any Singapore ship or aircraft or anything on board a Singapore ship or aircraft, wherever the ship or aircraft may be,and may give such directions as appear to the competent authority to be necessary or expedient in connection with the requisition.
(2)
Where any chattel is requisitioned under this section, a competent authority may use or deal with, or authorise the use or dealing with, the chattel for such purposes and in such manner as the competent authority thinks fit and may —
hold, or sell or otherwise dispose of, the chattel as if the competent authority were the owner thereof and as if the chattel were free from any mortgage, pledge, lien or other similar obligation; and
in a case where the chattel requisitioned is a vehicle, vessel or aircraft, acquire it by serving on the owner thereof a notice stating that the competent authority has acquired it pursuant to this section.
(3)
When a notice of acquisition has been served under subsection (2), then, at the beginning of the day on which the notice is served —
the vehicle, vessel or aircraft vests in the Government free from any mortgage, pledge, lien or other similar obligation; and
the period of the requisition thereof ends.
(4)
Without affecting the powers conferred by subsections (1) and (2), the competent authority may by order require the owners of, and the persons having power to dispose of, chattels of any description specified in the order, being chattels situate outside Singapore, to comply with such directions as may be given by or on behalf of the competent authority for the purpose of securing that the ownership of the chattels or the right to dispose of the chattels is transferred to the competent authority.
(5)
A competent authority may, if it appears to the competent authority to be necessary for the effectual exercise of the competent authority’s powers under subsection (1) to do so, by order —
direct that any person who, at the time when the order takes effect, has in the person’s possession or under the person’s control, at any premises, any such articles as may be described in the order, must not remove the articles, or cause or permit them to be removed, from the premises until the removal of the articles from the premises is permitted by that competent authority or person as may be specified in the order;
require the owner or occupier of any premises to send to the competent authority or person as may be specified in the order a written declaration stating or estimating whether or not, on such date as may be specified in the order, any such articles were or will be on the premises, and if so, the number or quantity of those articles which was or will be on the premises on that date, according as the order may direct.
(6)
In any case in which the chattel requisitioned is a chattel other than a vehicle, vessel or aircraft, the chattel, as soon as possession thereof is taken pursuant to this section, vests in the Government free from any mortgage, pledge, lien or other similar obligation.
(7)
Where a competent authority has issued a notice of requisition in respect of any chattel, the chattel must be furnished by the owner and the person having the possession, custody or control thereof to the competent authority or to such persons as the competent authority must appoint for the purpose forthwith or (if such is the case) within such period as may be prescribed or mentioned in the requisition.
(8)
On any refusal or neglect to furnish such chattel in the manner aforesaid, or if the competent authority has reasonable ground for believing that it is not practicable without undue delay to give any direction for the chattel requisitioned to be furnished or delivered to the competent authority, then the competent authority or any authorised officer acting on behalf of the competent authority may take possession (and if need be may enter any premises by force for the purpose) of the chattel requisitioned and may use the chattel in a similar manner as if it had been furnished pursuant to the requisition.
(9)
Payment for the chattel taken possession of under subsection (8) must nevertheless be made in a similar manner as if the chattel had been duly furnished according to the requisition, provided that the chattel specified in the requisition is not deemed to have been furnished except insofar as possession is taken by or by the direction of the competent authority.
(10)
Where the Accountant-General is satisfied that any vehicle in respect of which a licence to keep has been granted has, in exercise of the powers conferred by this section, been acquired before the expiry of the period of the validity of the licence, the Accountant‑General may authorise the refund to the person who at the date of such acquisition was the owner of the vehicle of a proportionate part of the fee paid for the licence in respect of that part of the period of its validity which remains unexpired at that date, if a claim for the refund is made to the Accountant‑General in writing by that person not later than 3 months after the date when the vehicle was acquired as aforesaid.
(11)
A competent authority may, to such extent and subject to such restrictions as the competent authority thinks proper, delegate all or any of the competent authority’s functions under subsections (1) and (2) to any persons or class of persons specified by the competent authority.
(12)
The Commissioner of Police must, on a request to that effect made by or on behalf of the authorised officer to whom an order is issued to requisition chattels, give instructions for securing that, so far as practicable, police officers will be available (if required) for accompanying authorised officers requisitioning chattels pursuant to the order.
(13)
The authorised officer to whom the requisitioning order is issued, or any member of the armed forces or the civil defence force authorised by the authorised officer in writing, may without warrant stop and search any vehicle, vessel or aircraft with a view to ascertaining whether the vehicle, vessel or aircraft is to be requisitioned.
(14)
The powers conferred by this section for the purpose of conducting exercises for the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) are exercisable only in relation to vehicles, vessels or aircraft.
(15)
In this section, “chattel” includes any substance, machine, equipment, vehicle, vessel or aircraft but does not include currency, gold, securities or negotiable instruments.