23—(1) When the office of the Commissioner is vacant or the Commissioner is, for any reason, unable to act, the Assembly may appoint a person to discharge any function of that office until such time as may be specified by the terms and conditions of such appointment; and a person so appointed is referred to in this section as an “Acting Commissioner”.
(2) There may be more than one Acting Commissioner at any one time.
(3) The Assembly may delegate to the Commission any matter connected with the appointment of an Acting Commissioner, including the terms of such appointment (but not the appointment itself).
(4) The Commissioner and an Acting Commissioner may each discharge the functions of the Commissioner at the same time in relation to different investigations or requests for advice.
(5) A person who is disqualified from being appointed or serving as the Commissioner is disqualified from being appointed or serving as an Acting Commissioner.
(6) The appointment of a person as an Acting Commissioner ceases in any of the circumstances specified (in relation to the Commissioner) in section 21.
(7) Anything done by an Acting Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of this Act and an appointment made under subsection (1) shall be valid as if it had been done by the Commissioner.
(8) Sections 18, 22 and 24 to 34 shall apply to the discharge by an Acting Commissioner of the function which that Acting Commissioner was appointed to discharge as if references in those sections to the Commissioner were references to an Acting Commissioner.