Singapore legislation
Clause 15
Clause 15
Repeal and re-enactment of section 27
Section 27 of the Ordinance is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —“Transfer of proceedings to High Court27.—
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.”.