If it is determined in a proceeding in a court of competent jurisdiction for the commitment of a person alleged to be mentally incapacitated or otherwise in need of confinement in a psychiatric hospital or other institution for the person's proper care, treatment, or safekeeping, that commitment is necessary and that the person is eligible for care or treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency of the United States, the court may commit the person to the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency instead of to a State institution, upon receipt of a certificate from the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency showing that facilities are available and that the person is eligible for care or treatment therein, subject to the provisions of this act.
Upon commitment, and when admitted to a facility operated by any such agency, the person shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Veterans Affairs or other agency. The chief officer of a facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs or institution operated by the other agency to which the person is committed shall, with respect to the retention of the person's custody, transfer, parole, or discharge, be vested with the same powers as that of the chief officer of a State institution if the person had been committed to a State institution.
N.J.S. § 30:6B-1