Public officer to discharge CS’ duties

April 11, 2022

Chief Executive Carrie Lam：

At this point in time, the position of the CS, the Chief Secretary for Administration, remains vacant.

All the work to be done by the Chief Secretary for Administration will continue and has been continuing in the last week or so because we could ask the relevant bureau secretaries to do the work and then to escalate (any matter) to my personal attention.

Because very often, the Chief Secretary of Administration is (of a) higher level to the bureau secretary, but ultimately responsible to the Chief Executive (CE) - for example, in processing submissions to the Executive Council.

If a particular public office is vacant, in other words, no person has been appointed to fill that public office but the laws of Hong Kong do give that public office certain powers to exercise, then under special conditions - that is when the post is vacant - then the Chief Executive could, by order - it is a legal instrument - sign an order to direct another public officer to discharge those functions.

That is why we needed to clarify this position via a press release yesterday because apparently, there was a saying that because the post of CS is not filled and even the Chief Executive cannot do anything about it, there are certain statutory functions that cannot be discharged. That is not the case.

The CE will be able to rectify or resolve that sort of situation by invoking the Interpretation & General Clauses Ordinance (Cap 1) to appoint, by order, another public officer to discharge that function.

We have already done it once, by order, to direct another public officer, another principal official, to grant exemptions under the Compulsory Quarantine of Certain Persons Arriving at Hong Kong Regulation (Cap 599C) to facilitate the arrival of Mainland experts last week without subjecting them to quarantine.

We will facilitate the conduct of the election of the Sixth Term Chief Executive in accordance with the law.

If any candidate’s campaign office wishes to seek any exemptions (from the prevailing social distancing and group gathering restrictions for the election activities), which are in the public interest - because we want this election to be smooth, efficient (and) lawful - then they can approach the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

The easy way is to approach the CE’s office or the director of the Chief Executive’s office and (they) need not try to find out which principal official has been given the power by the Chief Executive.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said although the position of the Chief Secretary is now vacant, appropriate arrangements have been put in place to ensure the work of the Government remains unaffected.

In a press release yesterday, the Government clarified that even though the Chief Secretary’s post has been vacant since April 7, the Chief Executive is able handle the situation by invoking the Interpretation & General Clauses Ordinance to appoint a public officer to discharge the function of the Chief Secretary’s office.

When asked if the Chief Executive could provide more clarification on the matter during a press conference this morning, Mrs Lam further explained: “We could ask the relevant bureau secretaries to do the work and then to escalate (any matter) to my personal attention.

“Very often, the Chief Secretary of Administration is (of a) higher level to the bureau secretary, but ultimately responsible to the Chief Executive - for example, in processing submissions to the Executive Council.

“When the post is vacant - then the Chief Executive could, by order - it is a legal instrument - sign an order to direct another public officer to discharge those functions.”

Citing a recent example, she added: “We have already done it once, by order, to direct another public officer, another principal official, to grant exemptions under the Compulsory Quarantine of Certain Persons Arriving at Hong Kong Regulation to facilitate the arrival of Mainland experts last week without subjecting them to quarantine.”

Separately, Mrs Lam stressed that the Government will facilitate the conduct of the sixth-term Chief Executive Election.

“If any candidate’s campaign office wishes to seek any exemptions (from the prevailing social distancing and group gathering restrictions for the election activities), which are in the public interest - because we want this election to be smooth, efficient (and) lawful - then they can approach the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

“The easy way is to approach the CE’s office or the director of the Chief Executive’s office and (they) need not try to find out which principal official has been given the power by the Chief Executive.”