Transport Act, 1944

Existing superannuation funds.

45.—(1) In this section the expression “existing superannuation fund” means, in relation to a dissolved company, any superannuation, pension, provident, widows' and orphans' or other benefit fund or scheme established by that dissolved company or, if that dissolved company is the dissolved railway company, by an absorbed company or an amalgamated company within the meaning of the Railways Act, 1924 (No. 29 of 1924), and in existence immediately before the establishment date, and includes the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, every existing superannuation fund of a dissolved company and the management thereof shall, on and after the establishment date, continue as if that dissolved company had not been dissolved by this Act.

(3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to every existing superannuation fund established in the year 1944:—

(a) the Company shall submit to the Minister within one month after the establishment date the scheme relating to such fund;

(b) the Minister may refer the scheme back to the Company for reconsideration and fresh submission or by order confirm the scheme either without modification or with such modifications (whether by way of addition, omission or variation) as the Minister thinks proper;

(c) before confirming the scheme, the Minister shall hear all parties desirous of being heard and appearing to him to be interested therein;

(d) the scheme shall, if not so confirmed within three months after the establishment date, cease to be in force but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(4) For the purposes of any statutory enactment and of rules and regulations relating to any existing superannuation fund of a dissolved company, the following provisions shall, on and after the establishment date, have effect, that is to say:—

(a) any power of that dissolved company or the directors or any officer thereof in relation to the said fund may be exercised by the Company or its directors or any officer thereof,

(b) the service or employment or dismissal under or by the Company of any officer or servant of that dissolved company who is transferred, by virtue of this Act, to the Company shall be deemed to be service or employment or dismissal under or by that dissolved company,

(c) where under the rules of the said fund the directors of that dissolved company are empowered to appoint officers and servants of that dissolved company to any managing committee, the directors of the Company in exercising those powers shall appoint officers or servants of the Company who are members of the said fund or who, but for the dissolution of the dissolved company effected by this Act, would have been eligible for appointment to such managing committee.

(5) The obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, of any dissolved company in respect of any existing superannuation fund of that dissolved company and in respect of every member of the said existing superannuation fund shall be binding on the Company.

(6) All persons who are or have been members of any existing superannuation fund of a dissolved company and all persons claiming in right of any such members, shall be entitled to the same benefits, rights and privileges and subject to the same obligations, whether obtaining legally or by customary practice, as such persons would have been or might have become entitled or subject to, if that dissolved company had not been dissolved by this Act.

(7) Any person who—

(a) is in the service of any dissolved company immediately before the establishment date,

(b) is not a member of any existing superannuation fund of that dissolved company,

shall, so long as he remains in the service of the Company, have the same right (if any) to become a member of any such fund as he would have had if that dissolved company had not been dissolved by this Act and if he had remained in the service of that dissolved company, but save as aforesaid no person shall be entitled to become a member of any existing superannuation fund established before the 1st day of August, 1943, of a dissolved company who was not so entitled immediately before the establishment date.

(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section the Company may, if it so thinks fit, at any time cease to contribute to the Railway Clearing System Superannuation Fund.

(9) An existing superannuation fund of a dissolved company shall be deemed to have been set up under an irrevocable trust.