G.S. 84
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XCR(78)155
notwithstanding that these claims were still being processed by the loss adjusters, he would breach the clause in the policy (a standard one in insurance policies) which prohibits the rejection, negotiation or settlement of any claims without the consent of the insurers. This would, in turn, endanger the Corporation's and the Government's rights of idemnity under the policy.
6
So far only six statutory claims for structural damagehave been submitted, of which four have been settled and two are still being processed. In addition, 38 notifications of intention to claim have been sent to the Director. One reason why formal claims have not been submitted is that the potential claimants are not yet in a position fully to assess the extent of the damage and hence the amount of compensation they wish to seek. Indeed, for this very reason, the Director expects that many more claims for structural damage will be submitted when construction of the railway has been completed.
7
The need both to give the claimants more time to establish their claims and to enable the Corporation and the Government to make use of the insurance cover can be achieved by terminating the application of section 21(5) to claims for struc- tural damage, but at the same time preserving fully the existing safeguard afforded to claimants by section 21(7). Under this sub-
section claimants are permitted to institute proceedings in the Lands Tribunal if their claims are not settled within four months of their receipt by the Director and the invocation of this pro- vision is not considered to be in breach of the insurance policy. Clauses 4 and 5 of the bill accordingly provide for termination of the application of subsection (5) to claims for structural damage and for other amendments that are wholly consequential to this.
Expert Advice
8
Section 29 of the Ordinance empowers the Director of Public Works to authorise any public officer of a specified rank or above to exercise or perform any of the powers, func- tions and duties conferred upon him, as the Authority, by this Ordinance. Clause 6 of the bill seeks to extend the scope of delegation by authorising the Director of Public Works to appoint experts, not readily available in the public service, to assist him in the assessment of claims. For example, this would permit the employment of qualified accountants to assess claims for business losses, and building surveyors to assess
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