(1)Within one year from the vesting date the Railways Board shall, after consulting the other Boards, prepare and submit to the Minister a scheme for the organisation of the transport police of the Boards.
In this section, references to " transport police " are references to constables appointed under section fifty-three of the British Transport Commission Act, 1949.
(2)A scheme under this section which provides for the organisation of transport police in a joint force shall contain provisions with respect to—
(a)the control and administration of the force by or on behalf of the Boards participating in the force,
(b)the contributions to be (made by those Boards to the expenses of the force, and
(c)the method of settling disputes between those Boards in relation to the force.
(3)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, a scheme under this section may make provision—
(a)for the transfer or appropriation for the purposes of the scheme of property vested in the Railways Board by paragraph (e) of subsection (2) of section thirty-one of this Act, and
(b)for enabling the services of transport police organised in a force for any Board or Boards to be made available to another Board on such terms as may be agreed with that Board,
and may contain such incidental and transitional provisions as may appear to the Railways Board or the Minister to be expedient.
(4)A scheme under this section may make modifications consequential on the provisions of the scheme in section fifty-three of the said Act of 1949, but nothing in the scheme shall require any Board to exercise its powers under that section.
(5)On a scheme being submitted to the Minister under this section, the Minister may by order approve the scheme with or without amendment; and the scheme, as so approved, shall come into effect on such date as may be specified therein and it shall be the duty of the Boards to comply with the scheme as so approved.
(6)The Minister shall consult the Boards before approving a scheme under this section ; and the Minister shall not approve a scheme under this section which provides for the organisation of transport police in more than one force unless it appears to him, after consultation with the Boards, that there are special reasons which make it desirable that such provision should be made.
(7)If after a scheme has been approved under this section any Board apply to the Minister and satisfy him that the scheme should be amended in any respect the Minister may, after consulting the Boards, by order make such amendments of the scheme as he thinks fit.
(8)The power conferred by this section on the Minister to make orders shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(9)During the period between the vesting date and the coming into effect of a scheme under this section the Railways Board shall make police services available to the other Boards to such extent and on such terms as the Railways Board and the other" Board concerned may agree or as may, in default of agreement, be determined by the Minister.