Singapore legislation

Clause 16

of Administration of Muslim Law (Amendment) Bill

Clause 16

Repeal and re‑enactment of section 56B

Section 56B of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:“Protection from personal liability56B.—

(1)

Subsection (2) applies where an act is done or an omission is made —

(a)

by a president or member of the Court or an Appeal Board, or the registrar or a deputy registrar of the Court, in the discharge of his or her judicial duty, whether or not within the limits of his or her jurisdiction;

(b)

by the Registrar, a Deputy Registrar, a Kadi or a Naib Kadi in the exercise or purported exercise of any of his or her functions under this Act;

(c)

by an authorised person for the purposes of any proceedings before the Court or an Appeal Board, or any mediation or other alternative dispute resolution process related to those proceedings;

(d)

by a child representative appointed to represent the interests of a child in any proceedings involving the child, or the custody and welfare of the child —

(i)

for the purposes of those proceedings; or

(ii)

in any mediation or other alternative dispute resolution process related to those proceedings;

(e)

by an individual (being a registered medical practitioner, psychologist, counsellor, social worker or mental health professional) appointed by the Court to examine or assess a child for the purposes of preparing expert evidence for use in any proceedings involving the custody or welfare of that child —

(i)

for the purposes of the examination or assessment; or

(ii)

for the purposes of preparing the expert evidence for use in those proceedings; or

(f)

by any person in the course of conducting any counselling, family support programme or activity, or programme for children under Part 3.(2) No liability shall lie personally against the person who did the act or made the omission if the act was done or the omission was made in good faith and with reasonable care.(3) No liability shall lie personally against an officer of the Court or an Appeal Board, or any other person expressly authorised by the Court or an Appeal Board, charged with the duty of executing any writ, summons, warrant, order, notice or other mandatory process of the Court or Appeal Board, for the execution of or attempting to execute the writ, summons, warrant, order, notice or other mandatory process, or in respect of any damage caused to any property in effecting or attempting to effect execution, unless he or she knowingly acted in excess of the authority conferred upon him or her by the writ, summons, warrant, order, notice or other mandatory process.(4) The officer or other person mentioned in subsection (3) is not deemed to have acted knowingly in excess of his or her authority merely by reason of the existence of a dispute as to the ownership of any property seized under any enforcement order or writ of distress.(5) No liability shall lie personally against an authorised person for any loss or damage, suffered by any person by reason of any error or omission resulting from —

(a)

any malfunction in any electronic means of communication provided for in this Act, if the malfunction occurred despite the authorised person having acted in good faith and with reasonable care to prevent the malfunction; or

(b)

any fault or failure on the part of the person using the electronic means of communication.(6) In this section —

(a)

a reference to the exercise of a function includes a reference to the exercise of a power or the performance of a duty; and

(b)

“authorised person” means —

(i)

a member or an officer of the Court or an Appeal Board;

(ii)

the registrar or a deputy registrar of the Court;

(iii)

a mediator appointed by the Court; or

(iv)

any other person expressly authorised by the Court or an Appeal Board to conduct any proceedings before the Court or Appeal Board, or any mediation or other alternative dispute resolution process related to those proceedings.”.