DRAFT SPEECH BY PROF HON CK POON LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 10.2.1988-
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District Boards (Amendment) Bill 1988
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PROF. POON:
く
Sir,
how.
I speak on behalf of my honourable colleagues to
The present
support the District Boards (Amendment) Bill 1988. District Boards Ordinance provides that a District Board member can be absent from meetings of the Board for six consecutive le months without obtaining the approval of the Board before the
commencement of such absence.
le Board retrospectively.
He can obtain the approval of the
We agree that absence of this nature
The District
le could adversely affect the operation of the Board. le Boards (Amendment) Bill 1988 stipulates that a District Board Le member should be removed from the Board automatically if he le fails, without the prior approval of the Board, to attend le meetings of the Board for a period of six consecutive months
except in the case of prolonged illness. The opportunity has
also been taken to define more clearly what is meant by a
le District Board meeting and to include some other technical le amendments. We understand that members of the 19 District Boards
were consulted on the proposed amendments.
#youncil
there are a couple of areas in the Bill which le the Legco Ad Hoc Group has considered to be unclear;
(a)
Since the commencement date of the six-month
absence period is not clearly spelt out in the
Bill, it is envisaged that unnecessary arguments may arise at a later date; and
legal
(b) The Bill, as it stands now, permits a person to apply for leave, by reason of prolonged illness, within a reasonable period of his having recovered or substantially recovered from illness. The use of the word reasonable is rather loose and it is