(1) Subject to this
section, the Commissioner may —
(a) if
an office of chief executive officer is vacant, or a chief executive officer
is absent from duty or for any reason unable to perform his or her functions,
direct an employee to act for such period not exceeding 12 months as is
specified in that direction in the office of chief executive officer during
that vacancy, absence or inability, as the case requires; and
(b) at
any time cancel a direction given under this subsection.
(2) The Commissioner
may, in a direction given under subsection (1), state that anything done by
the employee to whom that direction is given during the period commencing on
the occurrence of the relevant vacancy, or on the beginning of the relevant
absence or inability, and ending on the giving of that direction, which thing
would have been valid had it been done by the chief executive officer referred
to in that subsection, is as valid as if it had been done by that chief
executive officer, and any such statement has effect according to its tenor.
(3) The Commissioner
must, before giving a direction under subsection (1), consult —
(a) the
responsible authority of the agency concerned; and
(b) if
that responsible authority is not the Minister responsible for that agency,
that Minister.
(4) An employee
directed under subsection (1) to act in an office —
(a)
shall comply with that direction; and
(b) has,
whilst he or she is so acting, all the functions and obligations attaching to
the office.
[Section 51 amended: No. 39 of 2010 s. 47, 67 and
70.]