Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1964-1965 — Page 13

management of the urban estates and cottage areas. It can let and terminate domestic, shop and factory tenancies in resettlement estates and can amend tenancy cards. In cottage areas, it can authorize the erection of buildings on permit, approve the form of hire purchase agreements, authorize the occupation of buildings, revoke and amend occupation permits and let Government-owned buildings.

16. The Council delegates its responsibilities to two Select Com- mittees in the following terms:

Resettlement Policy Select Committee: To exercise the powers and functions of the Council as a Competent Authority under Part IV and Part V of the Resettlement Ordinance 1958, and to deter- mine overall resettlement policies and the planning of future operations.

Resettlement Management Select Committee: To exercise the powers and functions of the Council as a Competent Authority under Part IV and Part V of the Resettlement Ordinance 1958, including the power to appoint authorized officers 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.

Membership of these Committees for 1964-65 is given at Appendix I. The Select Committees in turn delegate many of their routine duties to a delegated member who is usually the Commissioner for Resettlement. In addition, some Councillors act as visiting members to particular estates so that they are able to keep themselves and the department informed of estate problems. Officers in the department carry out the day to day business within the policies laid down by Government, the Urban Council and the Select Committees. Individual appeals from members of the public against the Commissioner for Resettlement's decisions are referred to the appropriate Select Committee under a new appeals pro- cedure instituted experimentally at the end of the year. It has also be- come customary for the Commissioner to consult the Committees on a wide range of questions. The advice tendered and decisions made by the Committees forms a substantial body of 'case law' for the guidance of the department.

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