Resettlement Management Select Committee:
To exercise the powers and functions of the Council as a competent authority under Parts IV and V of the Resettlement Ordinance 1958, and to—
(i) supervise and carry out the general administration of
cottage resettlement areas;
(ii) make recommendations for the effective administration and
control of the multi-storey resettlement estates.
30. Membership of these Committees for 1968-69 is given at Appendix 3. The Select Committees in turn delegate their routine duties to the Commissioner for Resettlement. Since the introduction of the Ward system by the Council, the earlier practice of Councillors being appointed as visiting members to individual estates had lapsed. Instead they receive enquiries and complaints from tenants at their ward offices, some of which are actually located in estates. Monthly group visits of members of the Select Committees to estates are arranged throughout the year so that they can observe problems at first hand. Officers of the Resettlement Department carry out the day to day business within the policies laid down by the Government, the Urban Council and the Select Committees. Individual appeals from members of the public against the Commissioner's decisions on tenancy matters, resettlement eligibility etc., are referred to a joint appeals sub-committee of the Resettlement Policy and Resettlement Management Select Committees. When the appeals sub-committee handles appeals on subjects for which the Urban Council is not the competent authority, it can legally only advise the Commissioner for Resettlement; in practice its advice is generally accepted. It has also become customary for the Commissioner to consult the Select Com- mittees on a wide
a wide range of questions. The advice tendered and decisions made by the Committees form a substantial body of 'case law' for the guidance of the department.
31. The more important subjects discussed by the Select Com- mittees during the year were :
(i) training for estate management;
(ii) policy on resettlement, resiting and rebuilding after fires and
natural disasters affecting squatter areas;
(iii) review of resettlement priorities;
(iv) shop resettlement;
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