Commonwealth Numbered Acts

BANKRUPTCY AMENDMENT ACT 1980 No. 12 of 1980 - SECT 12

12. (1) Sections 17 and 18 of the Principal Act are repealed and the following
sections are substituted:



"17. (1) The Minister may appoint a person to act as Inspector- General or
Official Receiver-

   (a)  during a vacancy in the office of Inspector-General or Official
        Receiver, as the case may be; or

   (b)  during any period, or during all periods, when the Inspector- General
        or Official Receiver, as the case may be, is absent from duty or from
        Australia or is, for any other reason, unable to perform the functions
        of his office, but a person appointed to act during a vacancy shall
        not continue so to act for more than 12 months.



"(2) An appointment of a person under sub-section (1) may be expressed to have
effect only in such circumstances as are specified in the instrument of
appointment.



"(3) The Minister may terminate such an appointment at any time.



"(4) Where a person is acting as Inspector-General or Official Receiver in
accordance with paragraph (1) (b) and the office of Inspector-General or
Official Receiver, as the case may be, becomes vacant while that person is so
acting, then, subject to sub-section (2), that person may continue so to act
until the Minister otherwise directs, the vacancy is filled or a period of 12
months from the date on which the vacancy occurred expires, whichever first
happens.



"(5) The appointment of a person to act as Inspector-General or Official
Receiver ceases to have effect if he resigns his appointment by writing signed
by him and delivered to the Minister.



"(6) While a person is acting as Inspector-General or Official Receiver, he
has and may exercise all the powers, and shall perform all the functions and
duties, of the Inspector-General or Official Receiver, as the case may be,
under this Act or any other law of the Commonwealth.



"(7) The validity of anything done by a person purporting to act under
sub-section (1) shall not be called in question on the ground that the
occasion for his appointment had not arisen, that there is a defect or
irregularity in or in connection with his appointment, that the appointment
had ceased to have effect or that the occasion for him to act had not arisen
or had ceased. Acting Registrars and acting Deputy Registrars

"17A. (1) The Minister may appoint a person to act as Registrar or Deputy
Registrar-

   (a)  during a vacancy in the office of Registrar or Deputy Registrar, as
        the case may be; or

   (b)  during any period, or during all periods, when the Registrar or Deputy
        Registrar, as the case may be, is absent from duty or from Australia
        or is, for any other reason, unable to perform the functions of his
        office, but a person appointed to act during a vacancy shall not
        continue so to act for more than 12 months.



"(2) An appointment of a person under sub-section (1) may be expressed to have
effect only in such circumstances as are specified in the instrument of
appointment.



"(3) The Minister may terminate such an appointment at any time.



"(4) Where a person is acting as Registrar or Deputy Registrar in accordance
with paragraph (1) (b) and the office of Registrar or Deputy Registrar, as the
case may be, becomes vacant while that person is so acting, then, subject to
sub-section (2), that person may continue so to act until the Minister
otherwise directs, the vacancy is filled or a period of 12 months from the
date on which the vacancy occurred expires, whichever first happens.



"(5) The appointment of a person to act as Registrar or Deputy Registrar
ceases to have effect if he resigns his appointment by writing signed by him
and delivered to the Minister.



"(6) While a person is acting as Registrar or Deputy Registrar, he has and may
exercise all the powers, and shall perform all the functions, of the Registrar
or Deputy Registrar, as the case may be, under this Act or any other law of
the Commonwealth.



"(7) The validity of anything done by a person purporting to act under
sub-section (1) shall not be called in question on the ground that the
occasion for his appointment had not arisen, that there is a defect or
irregularity in or in connection with his appointment, that the appointment
had ceased to have effect or that the occasion for him to act had not arisen
or had ceased. Arrangements for services of State and Northern Territory
Magistrates

"17B. (1) The Governor-General may arrange with the Governor of a State for
the performance of the functions of a magistrate under this Act by all or any
of the persons who from time to time hold office as Magistrates of the State.



"(2) The Governor-General may arrange with the Administrator of the Northern
Territory for the performance of the functions of a magistrate under this Act
by all or any of the persons who from time to time hold office as Magistrates
of the Territory. The Official Trustee in Bankruptcy

"18. (1) The body corporate that existed immediately before the commencement
of this section by virtue of section 18 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966, under the
name of The Official Receiver in Bankruptcy, continues in existence, by force
of this sub-section, as a body corporate under the name of the Official
Trustee in Bankruptcy.



"(2) The body corporate continued in existence by force of sub- section (1)-

   (a)  has perpetual succession;

   (b)  may acquire, hold and dispose of real and personal property; and

   (c)  may sue and be sued in its corporate name.



"(3) The Official Receivers together continue to constitute the body corporate
continued in existence by force of sub-section (1).



"(4) The Official Trustee shall have such seals as the Minister directs by
writing under his hand.



"(5) The designs of the seals of the Official Trustee shall be as determined
by the Minister by writing under his hand.



"(6) A seal of the Official Trustee may be affixed on any document by, or with
the authority of, any Official Receiver.



"(7) All courts (whether exercising federal jurisdiction or not), and all
persons acting judicially, shall take judicial notice of the mark of such a
seal affixed on a document and shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary,
presume that it was duly affixed.



"(8) All acts and things done in the name of, or on behalf of, the Official
Trustee by, or with the authority of, any Official Receiver shall be deemed to
have been done by the Official Trustee.



"(9) Where, under a provision of this Act or of the Bankruptcy Act 1924-1965
in its continued application by virtue of this Act, the exercise of a power or
performance of a function by the Official Trustee is dependent upon the
opinion, belief or state of mind of the Official Trustee in relation to a
matter, the power may be exercised or the function performed by, or with the
authority of, any Official Receiver in the name of, or on behalf of, the
Official Trustee upon the opinion, belief or state of mind in relation to that
matter of the person exercising the power or performing the function, and any
act or thing done by, or with the authority of, any Official Receiver in the
exercise of such a power, or performance of such a function, in accordance
with this sub-section shall be deemed to have been done by the Official
Trustee.



"(10) Where the Official Trustee is one of the trustees of a deed of
assignment, deed of arrangement, composition or scheme of arrangement , a
power the exercise of which, or a function the performance of which, is
dependent upon the opinion, belief or state of mind of those trustees in
relation to a matter may be exercised or performed by those trustees as if the
opinion, belief or state of mind in relation to that matter of an Official
Receiver or another person who with the authority of an Official Receiver,
acts in the name of, or on behalf of, the Official Trustee in the exercise of
the power or the performance of the function were the opinion, belief or state
of mind in relation to the matter of the Official Trustee.



"(11) A reference in a law of the Commonwealth to the Official Receiver of the
estate of a bankrupt shall, in relation to the vesting, holding or disposal of
property, be read as including a reference to the Official Trustee.



"(12) A reference in a law of the Commonwealth to The Official Receiver in
Bankruptcy shall be read as including a reference to the Official Trustee.
Liability of the Official Trustee

"18A. (1) The Official Trustee is subject to the same personal liability in
respect of an act done, or omitted to be done, by it as-

   (a)  the trustee of the estate of a bankrupt;

   (b)  the trustee of the estate of a deceased debtor;

   (c)  the trustee of a composition or scheme or arrangement accepted under
        Division 6 of Part IV;

   (d)  the controlling trustee in relation to a debtor whose property is
        subject to control under Division 2 of Part X;

   (e)  the trustee of a deed of assignment or deed of arrangement executed,
        or a composition accepted, under Part X; or

   (f)  the trustee of-

        (i)    a composition or scheme of arrangement accepted and approved
               under Division 5 of Part IV of the repealed Act;

        (ii)   a composition or scheme of arrangement accepted, or a deed of
               assignment executed, under Part XI of the repealed Act; or

        (iii)  a deed of arrangement executed under Part XII of the repealed
               Act, as an individual would be subject if the individual had
               done, or omitted to do, that act as such a trustee.



"(2) The Commonwealth is by force of this sub-section liable to indemnify the
Official Trustee against any personal liability, including any personal
liability as to costs, incurred by it-

   (a)  by reason of sub-section (1); or

   (b)  for any act done, or omitted to be done, by it in carrying out, or
        purporting to carry out, a direction given, or an order made, by the
        Court under section 50.



"(3) Nothing in sub-section (2) affects any right that the Official Trustee
has, apart from that sub-section, to be reimbursed in respect of any personal
liability referred to in that sub-section or any other indemnity given to the
Official Trustee in respect of any such liability.



"(4) Where the Commonwealth makes a payment in accordance with the indemnity
referred to in sub-section (2), the Commonwealth has the same right to
reimbursement in respect of the payment (including reimbursement under another
indemnity given to the Official Trustee) as the Official Trustee would have if
the Official Trustee had made the payment.".

(2) The repeal of section 18 of the Principal Act effected by sub-section (1)
of this section does not affect any property, powers, rights, authorizations ,
duties, functions, liabilities or obligations of the corporation continued in
existence by force of sub-section 18 (1) of the Principal Act as amended by
sub-section (1) of this section or render defective any legal or other
proceeding instituted by or against the corporation by the name of
The Official Receiver in Bankruptcy, and any legal or other proceedings that
might, but for the repeal so effected, have been instituted or continued by or
against the corporation by the name of The Official Receiver in Bankruptcy may
be instituted or continued by or against the corporation by the name of
The Official Trustee in Bankruptcy.