4 Winding up and dissolution of the Board.
(1)
No general election of members of the Board shall be held under paragraph 7 of the Scheme after the passing of this Act, and the term of office of any member of the Board or of any committee appointed under paragraph 10 of the Scheme shall, instead of expiring at any other time, expire at such time as the Board are dissolved under subsection (7) below or in consequence of being wound up under subsection (8) below.
(2)
Where a resolution is passed by the Board as mentioned in section 2(2)(b) above, subsections (3) to (7) below shall have effect on and after the appointed day with respect to the Board, and notwithstanding section 1 above—
(a)
paragraph 32 of the Scheme (which relates to accounts, audit and reports) shall continue to have effect on and after that day in relation to the Board so as to require them to comply with the provisions of that paragraph in respect of their financial year which ends (or is by virtue of subsection (3) or (4) below deemed to end) immediately before that day and, in so far as those provisions have not already been complied with in respect thereof, in respect of any preceding financial year; and
(b)
Part II of the Scheme shall accordingly continue to have effect in relation to the Board (subject to subsection (1) above) until such time as the Board are dissolved under subsection (7) below.
(3)
Subject to subsection (4) below, if the appointed day is other than 1st April, the Board’s financial year then current shall be deemed to have ended with the day before the appointed day.
(4)
If the appointed day falls on or after 2nd April but before 2nd July in any year, the Board’s financial year which would apart from this section have ended on the preceding 31st March shall instead be deemed to have ended with the day before the appointed day.
(5)
The Board shall have all such powers as are necessary for the performance of their duties under paragraph 32 of the Scheme or for otherwise winding up their affairs, including, in particular, power to make arrangements with any person for the use by the Board of the services of a person whose contract of employment has been transferred to that person pursuant to a resolution under section 2(2)(b) above, or for the use of any office accommodation which has been so transferred.
(6)
Any expenses incurred by the Board on or after the appointed day under the preceding provisions of this section shall be defrayed by the person in whom the fund established under paragraph 30 of the Scheme has vested in accordance with section 2(2) above (or if it has so vested in more than one person, by those persons rateably according to the proportions in which it has so vested in them).
(7)
As soon as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is satisfied that the requirements of paragraph 32 of the Scheme have been complied with on the part of the Board in respect of their financial years up to and including the one ending immediately before the appointed day, and on being notified by them that they have wound up their affairs, the Minister shall, after consulting the Board, make an order by statutory instrument dissolving the Board on such day as is specified in the order.
(8)
If no resolution is passed by the Board as mentioned in section 2(2)(b) above the said Minister shall present a petition for the winding up of the Board in accordance with the Scheme and Schedule 2 to the M1Agricultural Marketing Act 1958; and if, in the event of the Board being so wound up, any assets of the Board remain after the discharge of their debts and liabilities and the payment of the costs and expenses incurred in the winding-up, those assets shall be distributed to the producers who would have been by virtue of paragraph 5 of that Schedule liable to contribute in the winding up, and shall be so distributed in proportion to their respective liabilities in that behalf.