PARRIAM-
пил
Ms Paris HKD
From:
Miss S Brooks
Legal Counsellor
HKA 233/7
Date:
13 November 1992
25
AUTHORITY FOR RETIREMENT:
1.
(24)
LIMITED COMPENSATION SCHEME
Thank you for your minute of 4 November. I am content with the Hong Kong Government's addition to the first part of draft Regulation 93. It would however be preferable to insert "of Hong Kong" after "Governor" (ie as in Mr Waters' letter of 3 November). Draft Regulation 93 will appear in that part of the Colonial Regulations which applies generally to all dependent territories. We need to make it clear that draft Regulation 93 applies only to Hong Kong and the power to retire officers is to be exercised only by the Governor of Hong Kong.
2. Although the Hong Kong Government have accepted our proposed paragraph (i) (see Mr Waters' letter of 30 October to you) further reflection has convinced me that it should be omitted after all. This is because the Limited Compensation Scheme, paragraph 2 (a) provides for voluntary retirement of an officer in the case that the Governor's permission is granted, whereas paragraph 2(c) covers the case in which the Governor directs that an officer is retired. In order to keep this distinction, I think we should omit paragraph (i). The Limited Compensation Scheme, paragraph 2 (c) will be reflected in draft Regulation 93 iii).
3.
The Limited Compensation Scheme paragraph 2 (b) is also about voluntary retirement. However, the Special Compensation Scheme, paragraph 4 makes it clear that retirement under the Scheme is ordered by the Governor or an officer delegated by him. Since the Special Compensation Scheme is something which we have not informed the Chinese about and which we wish to keep confidential, we need to give the Governor power to retire Special Branch officers without making it obvious on the face of the Regulation. I think that draft Regulation 93, paragraph ii) meets these needs. In other words, though paragraph 2(b) of the Limited Compensation Scheme makes it clear that retirement in the case of officers other than Special Branch officers is voluntary retirement with the permission of the Governor, rather than forced retirement directed by the Governor, we need to give the Governor power to retire Special Branch officers on the grounds that it is unreasonable or undesirable for the officer to continue in Government service. It is only in the context of the Limited Compensation Scheme that it is unnecessary to give the Governor power to retire an officer other than a Special Branch officer.
/4.
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