Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act, 1982 (Act No. 19 of 1982)31. Inquiry by council |
| (1) | The council may, either as a result of a complaint or charge or allegation lodged with it or of its own accord, institute an inquiry into the conduct of a person who is registered or deemed to be registered in terms of this Act, or into an act or omission or alleged act or omission by such person in the practising of his or her profession, or into a contravention or alleged contravention of this Act or the rules by such person. |
| (2) | If such conduct, act, omission or contravention or alleged act, omission or contravention forms or is in the opinion of the council likely to form the subject of criminal or civil proceedings in a court of law, the council may postpone the inquiry until such proceedings have been determined. |
| (3) | The acquittal or the conviction by a court of law upon a criminal charge of a person who is registered or deemed to be registered in terms of this Act, shall not be a bar to an inquiry in respect of him or her in terms of this section, even if the facts being inquired into would, if proved, constitute the offence set forth in the criminal charge on which he or she was so acquitted or convicted, or any other offence of which he or she might have been convicted at his or her trial on the said criminal charge. |
| (4) | Whenever in the course of any proceedings before any court of law it appears to the court that there is prima facie proof of unprofessional, improper or disgraceful conduct on the part of a person who is registered or deemed to be registered in terms of this Act, or of conduct which, when regard is had to the profession of such person, is unprofessional, improper or disgraceful, the court shall direct that a copy of the record of such proceedings, or such portion thereof as is material to the issue, be transmitted to the council. |
| (5) | If any person's conduct or any act, omission or contravention or alleged act, omission or contravention by any person is likely to be inquired into in terms of this Act, such person shall be notified in writing by the registrar of the matter to be inquired into, and such person may furnish the council with a written explanation, in the form of an affidavit, concerning it. |
(6)
| (a) | Any inquiry referred to in subsection (1) may be instituted simultaneously against a corporation or a private company, and a member or employee of that corporation or directors of that private company. |
[Section 31(6)(a) substituted by section 10 of Act No. 10 of 2002]
| (b) | A manager referred to in section 24(4)(b) shall, subject to the provisions of section 32(7), represent the corporation at such inquiry and is personally responsible, irrespective of any responsibility of the corporation, for any act or omission by or on behalf of a corporation which may result in disciplinary action by the council, unless the council is satisfied that the responsibility for that act or omission rests upon another person who is registered in terms of this Act and is a member or an employee of that corporation. |
[Section 31(6) inserted by section 10 of Act No. 19 of 1989]