COURT CLAIM SUCCEEDS

Chronicle (Levin), 13 May 1949, Page 5

COURT CLAIM SUCCEEDS

Press Association) -

jndgment With Costs For . teeil Iioiffies

(Per

- _ . . - WELLINGTON; May 12. ; Judgnieht for the 'plaintitt, Cecil Wiiliam Holmes, a public ssrvant, witn -30 guineas costs -and disburoemenos was given- by- Mr. JuBiic'e Gxess on in the Suplefne JCbdrt touay m an acuon which •Mf .''Hhffnbs: .ook agaihst the thFee' hifchibdlrs hi, vhe Pub ic fernere Cdnhhissibff, Msssis R. M..Campbe:i. (chaffin&ff) , G. T. Bolt and A. H-.. O'Keefe. ' Mr. iioimes h'ad c almed .the i's'sue . 0f the writ of ihjunction re-strain- . mg the defendaihtS, as 'MfeMbers of uhe ' commission-, -from continuing he annulment of plaintiff '-s appointment in the Puoiic ServicO. Plamtiff had aiso claiffi'ed A Wfit of certiorari fOr remOving thb OTdfex xnaae by defendants. on Decembei 23, snnul ing, plaintiff's 'appOintiixent in the Fub.ic Service In of'der that it migh't be quashed. Violatioh Of PrinclpleS. "The clrcuhistances, Which an ms opinion make the 'action of the cominisslon a vioiatioh of the prinMpits of natural justice, -rffay bfe summarised thus," said his -Hon-

our. The comhiission, he Oaidt was deaxing with the Case of a probationer, but not of a probati'oner who had beeh in the Public Service for over three years in r'espect A w'nom probatioh reports, which should have been made, had -neVer oeen submitted. Bu't such .co'mment as"'had been made upon his wo^k was h'ighly -favourable. Since the period of probation hAd expired, he "had been promoted— provisionaTy — to a- more important ^ position. - "The -notes the commission had r egarding the applican ^ in f e ation to-this position Were th-at he was the only permanent applicant and had been employed as a unit director for some time, that he had i proved himself an excelleht -man; and tha. his 'appointmeht is recommended.'

What Commission Aeted On. "The commission, i'n resolving ; upon the annulment of plaintiff's appointment in the " Public Ser- ; vice," his Honour contihued, did no. act upon any consideratibn of the , probation renorts, which , migh we 1 be a routine administfativematter, but acted after- cohsider- : 'ing certain documents forvrarded to it and upon a report th'at plaintiff was proposing tb call a stopwork meetins. The /commissioh, after such. consideratibn, decrded upon the annulment . his appointment because of the, 'atlitude of gross* disobedience to authority which he had displayed.' " The judgment C9ntinued: /'This conclusibn was- a'rrived at without! allowing plaintiff ahy bpportunity' of challenging or 'exp'aining either the 'documeh's or the report, ' hor ahy opportunity of dispehing' by evidenc'e or argument the adverso c'onclusion arrived at by the' commission. Such action bya the commissibh Wa's, ih 'my opinio'n^ inr'fe-. lation . to- the rffatter. - which , they-; had to decide iudicialiy, ;ahd th'Ctewas contraVention "oi that f unda- . menta.1 principle WhiCh may .b.e shortly expressed 'au'di al'teram partem.' This was no "matter of form, but of substanc'e ahd of deepest importahce. Indispensable Kequiremehit. "It* is ah indispensable "reauifement Of justice that a party hrast be heard before being condemned, ond the brovisions Of sectioh 39 of the Public Service Act, 1912, though authorising the annff ment" of the " ppointmenfc of a probatiOner, do not in-my opinion justify the mode of procee'ding hef e adopted by the commission.". . ..