Notwithstanding the provisions of section 43:1-1 of the Revised Statutes, any county employee of a first class county having a population of less than eight hundred thousand as defined in the article to which this is a supplement who at the time of the effective date of this act is ineligible to the benefits of said article by reason of having accepted employment after reaching the age of forty-five and who was at the time of accepting such employment under the age of fifty years may within two months after this act becomes effective become a member of the fund established under article one of chapter ten of Title 43 of the Revised Statutes:

(1) by payment into the fund, in such manner as shall be determined by the pension commission, of all arrears, with interest as the pension commission shall determine to be due in order to give such employee the same standing as a member of said fund as all other members who joined said pension fund when the law providing for such fund became effective, in which case the maximum rate of interest shall not exceed the average rate of earnings of the investments of said fund and the maximum length of time for the payment of arrears shall be five years from the date of the application to join the fund; or

(2) upon written application in which case the regular deductions from the salary of such employee shall commence upon the filing of such written application and he shall be entitled to the same benefits as a new employee then joining the fund would receive.

L.1951, c. 271, p. 938, s. 1.