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MINES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 169

Commencement.

169. This Act may be cited as the Mines Act (Northern Ireland) 1969.

Schedules 1, 2 rep. by SR 1980/333

1. The tribunal holding an inquiry under section 127 shall consist of a person
or persons appointed by the Ministry, and may conduct the inquiry either alone
or with the assistance of an assessor or assessors so appointed.

2. The Ministry may pay to the person or persons constituting the tribunal and
to any assessor appointed to assist the tribunal such remuneration and
allowances as the Ministry with the approval of the Ministry of Finance may
determine.

3. The inquiry shall be public and shall be held at such place as the Ministry
may appoint.

4. The Ministry shall, before the beginning of the inquiry, furnish to the
person whose fitness to continue to hold a certificate is to be inquired into
a statement of the case on which the inquiry is instituted.

5. The said person may appear at the inquiry either in person or by counsel,
solicitor or agent, and may give evidence and call such witnesses as he thinks
fit.

6. At the conclusion of the inquiry the tribunal shall send to the Ministry a
report containing a full statement of the case and the opinion of the tribunal
thereon and such report of, or extracts from, the evidence as the tribunal
thinks fit.

7. The tribunal shall, for the purposes of the inquiry, have power

(a)to enter and inspect any place or building the entry or inspection of which
appears to the tribunal requisite for the said purposes;

(b)by summons signed by the tribunal to require any person to attend, at such
time and place as is specified in the summons, to give evidence or to produce
any documents in his custody or under his control which the tribunal considers
it necessary for the purposes of the inquiry to examine;

(c)to require a person appearing at the inquiry to furnish to any other person
appearing thereat, on payment of such fee, if any, as the tribunal thinks fit,
a copy of any document offered, or proposed to be offered, in evidence by the
first-mentioned person;

(d)to take evidence on oath, and for that purpose to administer oaths, or,
instead of administering an oath, to require the person examined to make and
subscribe a declaration of the truth of the matter respecting which he is
examined;

(e)to adjourn the inquiry from time to time; and

(f)subject to sub-paragraphs (a) to (e), to regulate the procedure of the
tribunal.

8. A person attending as a witness before the tribunal shall be entitled to be
paid by the Ministry such travelling and other allowances, including
compensation for loss of remunerative time, as the Ministry with the approval
of the Ministry of Finance may determine.

9. The tribunal may make such orders as it thinks fit respecting the payment
of the costs and expenses of the inquiry and any such order shall, on the
application of any person entitled to the benefit thereof be enforceable by a
court of summary jurisdiction as if the amount ordered to be paid were a sum
adjudged to be paid by an order of that court.

10. If a person

(a)without reasonable excuse (proof whereof shall lie on him) fails, after
having the expenses, if any, to which he is entitled tendered to him, to
comply with any summons or requisition of the tribunal; or

(b)does any other thing which would, if the tribunal had been a court of law
having power to commit for contempt, have been contempt of that court;

11. The holder of any such certificate as is mentioned in section 127 may,
after notice of intention to make an application under subsection (1) of that
section has been duly served on him, be required by the court dealing with a
complaint or trying an indictment for an offence alleged to have been
committed by him, or may be required by a tribunal making inquiry under that
section, to deliver up his certificate to the court or, as the case may be,
the tribunal at the hearing.

12. A certificate so delivered up may be retained by the court or tribunal
until the conclusion of the proceedings, except that a certificate delivered
up to the court shall be returned to the holder thereof on his making an
election under section 127(2)(b).

13. Where the court or tribunal cancels or suspends a certificate it shall, at
the conclusion of the proceedings, send the Ministry notice thereof and shall
also send the Ministry the certificate for retention by it.

14. Where on an appeal (whether by way of case stated or otherwise) the
conviction of the holder of the certificate is quashed or the cancellation or
suspension thereof is quashed or varied, the solicitor for the prosecution
shall send notice therof to the Ministry; and where on an appeal by way of
case stated the Court of Appeal remits the matter to a court of summary
jurisdiction or a county court, notice of the order of the court on the
remission shall be sent to the Ministry by the court of summary jurisdiction
or county court, as the case may be.

15. Where a certificate has been sent to the Ministry under paragraph 13,
the Ministry shall

(a)on receipt of a notice that the conviction of the holder therof, or the
cancellation or suspension thereof, has been quashed; or

(b)on the expiration of any period for which the certificate stands suspended
(whether after conviction or appeal);

16. For the purposes of this Part, the bringing of proceedings before the High
Court to quash a conviction by order of certiorari shall be deemed to be an
appeal.

Schedule 4Amendments. Schedule 5Repeals.

Section 127.

© 1969 Crown Copyright

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