31. Consequences upon cancellation of registration of organisation

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2020. 4 amendments in all.

(1)

Upon the cancellation of the registration of any organisation —

(a)

the property of the organisation within Singapore shall forthwith vest either in the Official Receiver or in such other officer as may be appointed for the purpose of winding up by the Minister;

(b)

the Official Receiver or that other officer shall proceed to wind up the affairs of the organisation and after satisfying and providing for all debts and liabilities of the organisation and the costs of winding up, shall divide the surplus assets, if any, of the organisation amongst the members of the organisation according to the rules of the organisation, if any, or if there are no such rules applicable to such a case, then equally, but if by reason of the great number of members, or the difficulty of ascertaining the persons entitled to the assets or if from any other cause such a division is, in the opinion of the Official Receiver or that other officer, impracticable, he shall prepare and submit to a Judge sitting in the General Division of the High Court for his approval a scheme for the application of the surplus assets to purposes for the benefit of that portion of the public to which the members of the organisation more particularly belonged or of the public generally;

(c)

such a scheme, when submitted for approval, may be amended by the Judge in such a way as he thinks proper under the circumstances of the case;

(d)

the approval of the Judge of such a scheme or amended scheme shall be denoted by the endorsement thereon of a memorandum of the approval signed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court and by the memorandum being sealed with the seal of the Court and upon this being done, the surplus assets, the subject of the scheme, shall be held and applied by the Official Receiver or that other officer upon the terms and to the purposes thereby prescribed; and

(e)

for the purpose of winding up the affairs of an organisation the Official Receiver or such other officer shall have all the powers vested in the Official Receiver under the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 for the purpose of discovery of the property of a debtor, the realisation thereof and the winding up of a company, and the provisions of those Acts shall apply mutatis mutandis to the winding up of the affairs of a mutual benefit organisation under this Act.

(2)

For the purpose of enabling an organisation to wind up its own affairs, the Minister may by notification in the Gazette suspend the operation of subsection (1) for such period as to him seems expedient.

Terms defined in s 2

benefit
Defined · s 2
“benefit” means the payment made by a mutual benefit organisation for the relief or maintenance of the members or subscribers or on birth or death in accordance with the rules of the mutual benefit organisation;
Open s 2
mutual benefit organisation
Defined · s 2
“mutual benefit organisation” or “organisation” means any organisation which by its objects and rules either as the principal object or as an ancillary object makes provision by voluntary subscriptions of the members thereof or subscribers thereto with or without the aid of donations for —(a)the relief or maintenance of the members or subscribers, their husbands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or wards, during sickness or other infirmity, whether bodily or mental, in old age or in widowhood or for the relief or maintenance of the orphan children of members or subscribers during minority;(b)the payment of money on the birth of a member’s or subscriber’s child or on the death of a member or subscriber or of the child, husband, wife, parent or grandparent of a member or subscriber or on the death of any other person or for the funeral expenses of the member or subscriber or of the child, husband or wife of a member or subscriber or of the widow of a deceased member or subscriber; or(c)the relief or maintenance of the members or subscribers when unemployed or when in distressed circumstances;
Open s 2
officer
Defined · s 2
“officer” means the president, the secretary and members of a committee of an organisation and includes persons holding positions analogous to those of president, secretary or member of a committee;
Open s 2
organisation
Defined · s 2
“mutual benefit organisation” or “organisation” means any organisation which by its objects and rules either as the principal object or as an ancillary object makes provision by voluntary subscriptions of the members thereof or subscribers thereto with or without the aid of donations for —(a)the relief or maintenance of the members or subscribers, their husbands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or wards, during sickness or other infirmity, whether bodily or mental, in old age or in widowhood or for the relief or maintenance of the orphan children of members or subscribers during minority;(b)the payment of money on the birth of a member’s or subscriber’s child or on the death of a member or subscriber or of the child, husband, wife, parent or grandparent of a member or subscriber or on the death of any other person or for the funeral expenses of the member or subscriber or of the child, husband or wife of a member or subscriber or of the widow of a deceased member or subscriber; or(c)the relief or maintenance of the members or subscribers when unemployed or when in distressed circumstances;
Open s 2
Registrar
Defined · s 2
“Registrar” means the officer appointed as Registrar of Mutual Benefit Organisations and includes an Assistant Registrar of Mutual Benefit Organisations;
Open s 2

Report

Read on from s 32