TNAG-1724-FCO40-2437-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 129

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