PART XINDIVIDUAL INSOLVENCY: GENERAL PROVISIONS
Supplies of water, electricity, etc.
343.—(1) This Article applies where on any day (“the relevant day”)—
(a)a bankruptcy order is made against an individual or an interim receiver of an individual’s property is appointed, or
(b)a voluntary arrangement proposed by an individual is approved under Chapter II of Part VIII, or
(c)a deed of arrangement is made for the benefit of an individual’s creditors;
and “the office-holder” means the official receiver, the trustee in bankruptcy, the interim receiver, the supervisor of the voluntary arrangement or the trustee under the deed of arrangement, as the case may be.
(2) If a request falling within paragraph (3) is made for the giving after the relevant day of any of the supplies mentioned in paragraph (4), the supplier—
(a)may make it a condition of the giving of the supply that the office-holder personally guarantees the payment of any charges in respect of the supply, but
(b)shall not make it a condition of the giving of the supply, or do anything which has the effect of making it a condition of the giving of the supply, that any outstanding charges in respect of a supply given to the individual before the relevant day are paid.
(3) A request falls within this paragraph if it is made—
(a)by or with the concurrence of the office-holder, and
(b)for the purposes of any business which is or has been carried on by the individual, by a firm or partnership of which the individual is or was a member, or by an agent or manager for the individual or for such a firm or partnership.
(4) The supplies referred to in paragraph (2) are—
(a)a supply of electricity by Northern Ireland Electricity,
(b)a supply of water by the Department of the Environment,
(c)a supply of telecommunication services by a public telecommunications operator,
and in this paragraph “telecommunication services” and “public telecommunications operator” mean the same as in the Telecommunications Act 1984(1), except that the former does not include services consisting in the conveyance of programmes included in cable programme services (within the meaning of the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984(2)).
Time-limits
344. Where by any provision in Parts VIII to X (other than Chapter I of Part VIII) or by the rules the time for doing anything is limited, the High Court may extend the time, either before or after it has expired, on such terms, if any, as it thinks fit.
Formal defects
345. The acts of a person as the trustee of a bankrupt’s estate or as a special manager, and the acts of the creditors' committee established for any bankruptcy, are valid notwithstanding any defect in the appointment, election or qualifications of the trustee or manager or, as the case may be, of any member of the committee.