Section 25
Cancellation of registration or suspension from practice
(1)
Subject to this section, the Board may by order cancel the registration of any registered surveyor or suspend him or her from practice for a period not exceeding 12 months under any of the following circumstances:
if he or she is convicted of any offence involving fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude;
if his or her registration under section 12 or practising certificate was obtained by fraud or misrepresentation;
if his or her qualification for registration under section 12 has been withdrawn or cancelled by the authority through which it was acquired or by which it was awarded;
if he or she has been guilty of any improper conduct that renders him or her, in the opinion of the Board, unfit to be a registered surveyor;
if it appears to the Board that he or she has contravened any provision of the prescribed code of professional conduct and ethics;
if it appears to the Board that he or she is no longer in a position to carry out the duties of a registered surveyor effectively;
if it appears to the Board that the registered surveyor, while being a director, manager, or an employee of a corporation, or a partner, manager or an employee of a partnership or limited liability partnership, had failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership from acting in a manner (other than as described in section 27(1)(f)) which would warrant the Board revoking any licence granted to the corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership or imposing a penalty under section 27;
if he or she has been adjudicated a bankrupt;
if he or she has been convicted of any offence under this Act;
if he or she refuses or fails to comply with any order of the Board made under subsection (2)(a) or (c);
if he or she refuses or fails to pay the cost of any correction to his or her cadastral survey within 14 days of the receipt of a statement issued to him or her under section 16(4) of the Boundaries and Survey Maps Act 1998.
(2)
The Board may, in any case in which it considers that no cause of sufficient gravity for cancellation of registration or suspension from practice exists, exercise one or more of the following powers:
by order impose on the registered surveyor a penalty not exceeding $10,000;
by writing under the hand of the president censure the registered surveyor; (c)order the registered surveyor to pay the cost of any correction to his or her cadastral survey incurred by the Chief Surveyor.
(3)
The Board must not exercise its powers under subsection (1) or (2) unless —
an opportunity of being heard either personally or by counsel has been given to the registered surveyor against whom the Board intends to exercise its powers; and
there has been a hearing at which at least 3 members of the Board are present.
(4)
Every penalty imposed by the Board under subsection (2)(a) is recoverable as a debt due to the Board.
(5)
While any order of suspension from practice made under this section remains in force, the person concerned is not for the purposes of this Act to be regarded as having in force a practising certificate, but immediately on the expiry or annulment of such order, his or her privileges as a registered surveyor are revived as from the date of expiry or annulment.
(6)
Any order of cancellation of registration or suspension from practice does not take effect until the expiry of 30 days after the Board has informed the person concerned, but if within that period the person concerned gives due notice of appeal to the General Division of the High Court, the order does not take effect unless the order is confirmed by the General Division of the High Court or the appeal is for any reason dismissed by the General Division of the High Court.
(7)
For the purposes of subsection (1)(g), a registered surveyor is not to be deemed to have taken reasonable steps to prevent the doing of any act by a corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership unless he or she satisfies the Board that —
the act was done without his or her knowledge;
he or she was not in a position to influence the conduct of the corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership in relation to its action; or
he or she, being in such position, exercised all due diligence to prevent the corporation, partnership or limited liability partnership from so acting.
(8)
In this section, references to acts done include references to omissions to act and to a series of acts or omissions to act.