Commentary on Sections Appointment of Commissioners etc. Section 5 – First appointments of Commissioners
16.Section 5 sets out the provisions for the transition from the existing serving Commissioners appointed under the 1846 Act to nine Commissioners under section 2. Prior to section 2 coming into force, the serving Commissioners must choose three serving Commissioners as the Commissioners for the lower, middle and upper sections. These three Commissioners are to continue in office for 24 months and the others will cease to be Commissioners. Six further Commissioners must then be appointed under schedule 2, one for each of the lower, middle and upper sections and three for the Balgowan section. These Commissioners are to be appointed at a heritors’ meeting within two months of the Act coming into force. This is to allow the additional Commissioners to be appointed by the time section 2 comes into force (three months after the rest of the Act) as, in accordance with paragraph 3(c) of schedule 2, a Commissioner is to be appointed one month before that Commissioner’s appointment takes effect.