(1)An interim trustee shall be appointed by the court from the list of interim trustees on sequestration being awarded or as soon as may be thereafter:
Provided that, where the petition for sequestration is presented by a creditor or a trustee acting under a trust deed, an interim trustee may be so appointed before sequestration is awarded if—
(a)the debtor consents, or
(b)the Accountant in Bankruptcy, the trustee acting under the trust deed or any creditor shows cause.
(2)The court may, on an application by an interim trustee, authorise the interim trustee to resign office and, if he does so, shall appoint another person from the list of interim trustees to act in his place; and an interim trustee shall not otherwise resign office.
(3)Without prejudice to section 1(3) of this Act or to subsection (4) below, where the court is satisfied that an interim trustee—
(a)is unable to act (whether by, under or by virtue of a provision of this Act or from any other cause whatsoever) ; or
(b)has had his name removed from the list of interim trustees; or
(c)has so conducted himself that he should no longer continue to act in the sequestration,
the court, on the application of the debtor, a creditor, the Accountant in Bankruptcy or, in respect of paragraph (a) above, the interim trustee, shall appoint another interim trustee from that list to act in his place.
(4)Where under section 1(3) of this Act the court removes an interim trustee from office, the court, on the application of the Accountant in Bankruptcy, shall appoint another interim trustee from the list of interim trustees to act in his place.
(5)Subject to subsection (6) below, no one shall act as interim trustee in a sequestration if he would, by virtue of section 24(2) of this Act, be disqualified from acting as permanent trustee in that sequestration; but where an interim trustee is, by virtue of this subsection, prohibited from so acting he shall forthwith make an application under subsection (3)(a) above.
(6)No person appointed as interim trustee under this section shall be entitled to decline to accept his appointment.
(7)Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of section 18(3) of this Act, the court may, if requested to do so in the petition for sequestration, empower the interim trustee to act as is mentioned in that paragraph.
(8)An order of the court making an appointment under this section shall be appealable only by the debtor, a creditor, the Accountant in Bankruptcy or the appointee and only on the ground that the person appointed is unable to act as mentioned in subsection (3)(a) above, or is not on the list of interim trustees:
Provided that such an order under subsection (3) above may also be appealed against by the displaced interim trustee on the ground that the court should not have been satisfied as is mentioned in that subsection.
(9)An interim trustee, as soon as may be after his appointment, shall notify the debtor and the Accountant in Bankruptcy of the appointment.