Section 63: Disability because of interest

63. Disability because of interest (1) (a) Where a member of the Regional Assembly, including the Chairperson of the Regional Assembly, has any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any contract or other matter and is present at a meeting of the Assembly at which the contract or other matter is the subject of consideration, he shall at the meeting, as soon as practicable after its commencement, disclose the fact, and shall not take part in the consideration or discussion of or vote on any question with respect to the contract or other matter. (b) This section shall not apply to an interest in a contract or other matter which a member of the Regional Assembly or the Chairperson may have as a rate payer or inhabitant of the area, or as an ordinary consumer of electricity or water, or to an interest in any matter relating to the terms on which the right to participate in any service, including the supply of goods, is offered to the public. (2) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be treated as having indirectly a pecuniary interest in the contract or other matter, where— (a) he or any nominee of his is a member of a company or other body with which the contract is made or which has a direct pecuniary interest in the other matter under consideration; or (b) he is a partner, or is in the employment, of a person with whom the contract is made or is proposed to be made or who has a direct pecuniary interest in the other matter under consideration. (3) For the purposes of this section, the interest of a spouse or that of any children shall, if known to the member, be deemed to be also an interest of the member. (4) A general notice given in writing to the Clerk of the Regional Assembly by a member to the effect that he, his spouse or any of his children is a member or is in the employment of a specified company or other body, or that he, his spouse or any of his children is a partner or in the employment of a specified person shall, unless and until the notice is withdrawn, be deemed to be a sufficient disclosure of his interest in any contract, proposed contract, or other matter relating to that company or other body or to that person which may be the subject of consideration after the date of the notice. [Issue 1] R30 – 26 Revised Laws of Mauritius (5) The Clerk of the Regional Assembly shall record, in a book to be kept for the purpose, particulars of any disclosure made under subsection (1) and of any notice given under subsection (4), and the book shall be open at all reasonable hours to the inspection of the public. (6) Any member or Chairperson of the Regional Assembly who contravenes subsection (1) shall commit an offence and shall for each offence be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding 10,000 rupees unless he proves that he did not know that a contract, proposed contract, or other matter in which he has a pecuniary interest was the subject of consideration at the meeting. (7) A prosecution for an offence under this section shall not be instituted except by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. (8) The Chairperson may, subject to such conditions as he thinks fit to impose, remove any disability imposed by this section in any case in which the number of members of the Regional Assembly so disabled at any one time would be so great a proportion of the whole as to impede the transaction of business, or in any other case in which it appears to the Chairperson that it is in the interest of the inhab ction shall not be instituted except by or on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions. (8) The Chairperson may, subject to such conditions as he thinks fit to impose, remove any disability imposed by this section in any case in which the number of members of the Regional Assembly so disabled at any one time would be so great a proportion of the whole as to impede the transaction of business, or in any other case in which it appears to the Chairperson that it is in the interest of the inhabitants of Rodrigues that the disability should be removed. (9) The Regional Assembly may, by resolution, exclude any member from any meeting while any contract, proposed contract, or other matter in which he has such an interest is under consideration.