Short title.
1.
This
Act may be cited as the Preservation of Monuments Act.
Interpretation.
2.
—(1)
In
this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —"Board"
means the Preservation of Monuments
Board constituted by section 3;
"Chairman"
means the Chairman of the Preservation
of Monuments Board;
"Fund"
means the Preservation of Monuments
Fund established by section 15;
"monument"
includes —
(a)
any building, structure, erection or
other work whether above or below the surface of the land, any memorial,
place of interment or excavation and any part or remains of a monument;
and
(b)
any land comprising or adjacent to
a monument which in the opinion of the Board is reasonably required
for the purpose of maintaining the monument or the amenities thereof
or for providing or facilitating access thereto or for the exercise
of proper control or management with respect thereto,
which is considered by the Board to
be worthy of preservation by reason of its historic, traditional,
archaeological, architectural or artistic interest.
(2)
(a)
The following persons shall be deemed
to be the owners of monuments for the purpose of this Act, that
is to say, any person entitled:(i)
to an estate in fee simple in land;
(ii)
to an estate in land in perpetuity;
or
(iii)
to a lease of land for a term of years
of not less than 21 years.
(b)
"Land"
means land which is the site of a
monument, whether the land is or is not subject to encumbrances.
Establishment and incorporation of
Preservation of Monuments Board.
3*.
—(1)
There shall be constituted in Singapore
a body corporate to be known as the Preservation of Monuments Board
for the preservation of monuments.
*The former subsections (5),
(6), (7) and (8) were deleted by Act 35/73 and Act 13/78.
(2)
The Board shall have a common seal
and that seal may from time to time be broken, changed, altered
and made anew as the Board considers fit.
35/73,
13/78.
(3)
The Board may enter into contracts,
may sue and be sued in its corporate name and may acquire, purchase,
lease, take, hold and enjoy movable and immovable property of every
description, and may sell, exchange, convey, assign, surrender and yield
up, mortgage, demise, reassign, transfer or otherwise dispose of
or deal with any movable and immovable property vested in it upon
such terms as it considers fit.
(4)
All deeds, documents or other instruments
requiring the seal of the Board shall be sealed with the common
seal of the Board in the presence of the Chairman or Deputy Chairman
and one other member of the Board who shall sign every such deed,
document or other instrument to which the common seal is affixed
and their signing shall be sufficient evidence that the seal was
duly and properly affixed and that it is the lawful seal of the
Board.
(5)
Any monument shall be wholly or partially
exempt, at the discretion of the Comptroller of Property Tax, from
payment of any property tax imposed under the provisions of the
Property Tax Act.
Cap. 254.
(6)
The Board shall, subject to any directions
from the Minister, regulate its own procedure and make rules for
this purpose.
Members of Board.
4.
—(1)
The
Board shall consist of a Chairman and not less than 10 and not more than
17 other members to be appointed by the Minister.
(2)
The Chairman and the members of the
Board shall hold office for such period as the Minister shall decide
but shall not in any case hold office for a period exceeding two
years.
(3)
The Chairman and the members of the
Board shall be eligible for reappointment.
(4)
The members of the Board shall elect
one of their members to be Deputy Chairman who may assume the functions
of the Chairman in the event of the absence of the latter.
Objects of Board.
5.
The
objects of the Board shall be —(a)
to preserve monuments of historic,
traditional, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest;
(b)
to protect and augment the amenities
of those monuments;
(c)
to stimulate public interest and support
in the preservation of those monuments; and
(d)
to take appropriate measures to preserve
all records, documents and data relating to those monuments.
Powers of Board.
6.
—(1)
The
Board shall have power to do all lawful acts necessary in order
to further its objects and, without prejudice to the generality
of the foregoing, may —(a)
make periodic inspections of monuments,
advise on, supervise, control and effect alterations, repairs, renovations
or construction of any kind thereto whether by the Board itself
or by the owner or occupier thereof, to ensure the better preservation
thereof;
(b)
receive donations, grants, gifts of
movable or immovable property from any source and raise funds by
all lawful means;
(c)
contribute by grant or loan towards
the expenses incurred or to be incurred in the repair and maintenance
of a monument to ensure its proper preservation;
(d)
acquire compulsorily or by agreement,
whether by purchase, lease or otherwise any land, site or monument
appearing to the Board to be of outstanding historic, traditional,
archaeological, architectural or artistic interest;
(e)
dispose of any lands, sites and monuments
acquired by the Board as and when it considers fit to do so;
(f)
appoint committees consisting of persons
who may or may not be members of the Board and delegate to those
committees such of its powers and functions as the Board may determine;
and
(g)
regulate and control public access
to monuments and charge fees for such access.
(2)
The Board may appoint such officers
and employees as may be necessary to assist it in carrying out its
functions and all officers and employees of the Board so appointed
shall be under the administrative control of the Board and shall
be appointed on such terms and conditions as the Board may determine.
(3)
All members, officers and employees
of the Board shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning
of the Penal Code.
Cap. 224.
(4)
The Board may delegate to any of its
members, officers or employees such of its powers and functions
as it may consider fit.
Power to enter upon lands.
7.
—(1)
Any
person specifically authorised in writing by the Board after giving
not less than 14 days’ notice in writing to the occupier
of his intention to do so and on production of his authority, if
so required by or on behalf of the occupier, may enter for the purposes
of investigation at all reasonable times upon any land which the Board
may have reason to believe contains any monument and may make excavations
on the land for the purpose of examination:
Provided that —(a)
no person shall under any power conferred
by this subsection enter any dwelling-house or any building, park,
garden, pleasure ground or other land used for the amenity or convenience
of a dwelling-house except with the consent of the occupier; and
(b)
no excavation shall be made under the
power conferred by this subsection except with the consent of every
person whose consent to the making of the excavation would, apart
from this subsection, be required.
(2)
If any person wilfully obstructs or
hinders any person in the exercise of the powers conferred by subsection
(1) he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction
to a fine not exceeding $200.
Power of Minister to make preservation
orders.
8.
—(1)
The
Minister may, from time to time, on the advice of the Board, by
notification in the Gazette, make an order (to
be called a preservation order) placing any monument under the protection
of the Board and that preservation order shall take effect and come
into operation on the date of that notification and shall remain
in force until revoked by the Minister or until it otherwise ceases
to have effect.
(2)
A copy of the preservation order together
with a notice stating the effect thereof shall be served upon the
owner or occupier of the monument.
(3)
Any person who objects to the making
of a preservation order may submit his objections in writing to
the Minister within 3 months of its publication and call upon the
Minister to revoke the order.
(4)
The Minister may revoke the order or
may refuse to revoke the order and any such refusal shall be final.
(5)
The Board shall maintain a register
of all monuments that are subject to a preservation order made under
this Act.
Effect of preservation order.
9.
—(1)
Where
a preservation order is in force, the monument to which the order relates
shall not without the written consent of the Board (which consent
shall not be unreasonably withheld) be demolished, removed, altered
or renovated or have any addition made except in case of urgent
and immediate necessity for the safety of persons or property.
(2)
A preservation order shall bind all
subsequent owners and occupiers of the land which is the site of
the monument and shall operate as if it were a charge on land, whether
that land is registered or unregistered land. The preservation order
shall —(a)
if it affects registered land, be regarded
as a statutory obligation under section 38 (1) (c)
of the Land Titles Act; and
Cap. 157.
(b)
if it affects unregistered land, be
regarded as if it were a charge under the Registration of Deeds
Act and, upon registration of a memorandum of the charge, created
by the preservation order, the charge shall, notwithstanding the
provisions of that Act, have priority over all other instruments
(including charges and other encumbrances) affecting that land.
Cap. 269.
(3)
Any person who attempts to transfer,
assign, demise or otherwise deal with any monument or who demolishes,
removes, alters, renovates or adds to the monument without the consent
of the Board shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction
to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
Saving for dwelling-house.
10.
Where
a preservation order is made in respect of any structure that appears
to the Board to be occupied as a dwelling-house and that structure
has not been vested in the Board or the Government, as the case
may be, then, if the structure is not acquired pursuant to the provisions
of the Land Acquisition Act within the period of one year from the
date of the preservation order, the preservation order shall cease to
have effect in relation to that structure.
Cap. 152.
Maintenance of monuments.
11.
—(1)
The
Board may, if it thinks fit, at the request of the owner of a monument, undertake
or contribute towards the cost of preserving, maintaining or managing
the monument or to the making of additions thereto.
(2)
Any maintenance of or additions made
to a monument pursuant to this section shall be subject to the approval
of the Board and the competent authority under the Planning Act,
and upon such conditions as the authority may impose.
Cap. 232.
(3)
For the purposes of maintaining a monument
the Board shall have the right of access by itself or its employees
for the purpose of inspecting it and doing all acts and things necessary
for its maintenance.
(4)
All expenses incurred by the Board
in maintaining monuments shall be defrayed out of moneys provided
by the Fund.
(5)
“Maintenance” includes
the fencing and repairing of a monument and the doing of any act
or thing which may be required for the purpose of repairing the
monument or protecting it from decay or injury; and “maintain” shall
be construed accordingly.
Compulsory acquisition.
12.
—(1)
Where
the Board is desirous of acquiring, for the purposes of this Act, any
land, site or monument — the subject of a preservation
order made under section 8 — the Board may request and
the President may if he thinks fit direct the acquisition of that
land, site or monument in accordance with the provisions of the
Land Acquisition Act and declare under section 5 thereof that that
land, site or monument is required by the Board for a work or an
undertaking which is of public interest.
(2)
Where the premises are acquired pursuant
to a direction of the President under this section the value of
the premises shall be deemed to be the market value of the premises
at the date of the making of the preservation order.
7/83.
Compulsory acquisition of property
before 15th April 1983 not to be called in question.
13*.
—(1)
No compulsory acquisition of any immovable
property before 15th April 1983 shall be called in question in any
court on the ground that the acquisition was not in compliance with
section 12 as in force before that date.
*Section 3 of the Statutes
(Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 1983 (No. 7/83.)
(2)
Any action or proceedings pending after
15th April 1983 in any court in respect of any matter to which subsection
(1) applies shall be dismissed on application by any party, and
the court may make such order as to costs as it thinks fit.
Issue of shares, etc.
13A.
As
a consequence of the vesting of any property, rights or liabilities
of the Government in the Board under this Act, or of any capital
injection or other investment by the Government in the Board in
accordance with any written law, the Board shall issue such shares
or other securities to the Minister for Finance as that Minister may
from time to time direct.
Annual accounts and auditors’ report.
14.
—(1)
The
Board shall keep proper accounts and other records of its activities and
proceedings and shall prepare in respect of each year ending on
31st March a statement of accounts.
(2)
The accounts of the Board shall be
audited by qualified auditors appointed annually by the Board.
(3)
As soon as the accounts of the Board
have been audited, the Board shall send a copy of the statement
of accounts to the Minister, together with a copy of any report made
by the auditors on that statement or on the accounts of the Board.
(4)
The Minister shall present a copy of
every such statement of accounts and auditors’ report to
Parliament.
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Fund.
15.
—(1)
There
shall be established and maintained by the Board a fund to be called
the Preservation of Monuments Fund into which all moneys of the
Board shall be paid.
(2)
The Minister may from time to time
make grants to the Fund of such sums as he may determine out of
moneys to be provided by Parliament.
(3)
All
moneys in the Fund shall be deposited in a bank by the Board, or
the Board may invest
such moneys in accordance with the standard investment power of
statutory bodies as defined in section 33A of the Interpretation
Act (Cap. 1).
Cap. 337.
(4)
All cheques drawn upon the bank account
of the Board shall be signed by any two of the following persons:(a)
the Chairman;
(b)
the Deputy Chairman;
(c)
such other member of the Board as may
be nominated by the Board for this purpose.
(5)
The Board shall have full power to
manage and to expend the moneys received by the Board for the purposes
set out in this Act.
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Rules.
16.
—(1)
The
Board may, with the approval of the Minister, make such rules for the
carrying out of the purposes of this Act as it considers necessary.
(2)
Such rules —(a)
may prescribe that any act or omission
in contravention of the provisions of any rule shall be an offence;
and
(b)
may provide for the imposition of penalties
for such offences, which penalties shall not exceed a fine of $1,000
in respect of each offence.
[15
Exemptions.
17.
The
Minister may on the advice of the Board by order published in the Gazette exempt any monument from all or any
of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder.
[16
Penalties.
18.
Any
person who wilfully defaces, damages or otherwise interferes with
any monument shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on
conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
[17