13.
| (1) If the Assistant Commissioner is satisfied that any member of a Village Council has after his election been absent, without notice to the Council, from more than three consecutive meetings of the Council, the Assistant Commissioner shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (2), by notice published in the Gazette declare that such member has vacated office, and thereupon such member shall vacate office as from the date on which such declaration is published in the Gazette. |
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| (2) The Assistant Commissioner shall not declare under subsection (1) that any member of a Village Council has vacated office except after notice to the Chairman of that Council and to such member and after such inquiry as the Assistant Commissioner may deem necessary. Every such notice shall be sent by registered post. |
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| (3) Where a member of a Village Council has, without notice to the Council, absented himself from three consecutive meetings of the Council, the Chairman of the Council shall, within seven days after the date of the third of such meetings, inform the Assistant Commissioner in writing of such absence. |
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| (4) Where the absence of any member of a Village Council without notice to the Council from three consecutive meetings of the Council is alleged to the Assistant Commissioner by any person other than the Chairman of that Council, the Assistant Commissioner may, before inquiring into the correctness or otherwise of the allegation, require such person to deposit in the Kachcheri such sum not exceeding twenty-five rupees as the Assistant Commissioner may require. |
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| (5) The sum deposited under subsection (4) shall, in the discretion of the Assistant Commissioner, be forfeited and credited to the communal fund of the Village Council regarding whose member the allegation referred to in subsection (4) was made, if-
| | (a) the Assistant Commissioner finds that such allegation is false and the person who made such allegation has done so with a frivolous, vexatious or malicious intent, or | | |
| | (b) such person subsequently withdraws such allegation, or | | |
| | (c) such person fails to attend any inquiry held by the Assistant Commissioner into such allegation or refuses to give evidence at such inquiry. | | |
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| (6) Any sum deposited under subsection (4) shall, unless it is forfeited under subsection (5), be returned to the person by whom it was deposited after the conclusion of the inquiry held by the Assistant Commissioner. |
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| (7) Any person who alleges to the Assistant Commissioner that a member of a Village Council has without notice to the Council absented himself from three consecutive meetings of the Council, knowing or having reason to believe that such allegation is false, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees or to imprisonment of either description for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment. |
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| (8) The Chairman of a Village Council who refuses or wilfully neglects to comply with the provisions of subsection (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees or to imprisonment of either description for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment. |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts