118.3. The members of the disciplinary council may, even though they have been replaced, continue to hear a complaint they had begun to hear and render a decision regarding the complaint.
Where a chair or substitute chair continues to hear a complaint pursuant to the first paragraph, the decision on a conviction and, if applicable, the decision on a penalty, must be rendered within six months from the time the chair or substitute chair is replaced. Failure to observe that time limit shall not cause the matter to be withdrawn from the former chair or substitute chair.
However, the replacement chair may, at the request of one of the parties, extend the time limit on specified conditions or remove the matter from the former chair or substitute chair if the decision is not rendered within the time allowed. The replacement chair must take the circumstances and the interest of the parties into account.
The request must be filed with the secretary of the disciplinary council concerned. It must be served in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure (chapter C-25) on the council members who are seized of the complaint. Where a chair or substitute chair is no longer seized of a complaint, a new division shall be formed without delay to hear it.
The replacement chair may not hear a complaint with respect to which he has made a decision under this section.
1996, c. 65, s. 1; 2008, c. 11, s. 1, s. 83; 2009, c. 35, s. 10.