WRONGFULLY DISMISSED

Chronicle (Levin), 12 September 1949, Page 5

WRONGFULLY DISMISSED

Press Association)

Appeal Court's Decision In Hohnes Case

(Per

. WELLINGTON, Sept. 12. - The Coprt of Appeal, in a decision given today, held that Cecil William Holmes was wrongfully dismissed. from the Fublic Service. The Court dismissed the appeal by the Public Service Commissioner against the judgment given by Mr. Justice Gresson oh May 3. The judgment of Mr. Justice Gresson had held that Holmes was not an officer of the Public Seffevice but merely employed in the status of a probationer", yet probationers could not be arbitrarily dismissed in a case of misconduct^ but must first be. given an opportunity to.be heard in their defence. As Holmes had not been# given an opportunity to defend .fiimself , Mr. Justice Gresson • held that he had been denied natural justice and had been wrongfully dismissed. A majority of the Appeal Court, comprising Justices Findlay, Hutchison and Hay, held today that Holmes was an officer ofi the Public Service at the time of his dismlssal. His probationary status had been terminated when he received promotion to the appointment of unit director of the National Film Unit, Wellington. The Public Service Act, 1927, provides that officers of . the Public Service cannot be dismissed for miscondu'ct without their case being heard by the Public Service Appeal Board. Since Holmes had been immediately dismissed without a hearing by the appeal board, as'provided by the Public Service Act, his dismissal had been wrongful. The Chief Justice, Sir Humphrey O'Leary, in a dissenting opinion, held that Holmes had never been officially confirmed in the position of a permanent officer and at the time of his dismissal was still a probationer. All the Judges of the Appeal Court eonsidered that had Holmes been only a probationer he could have been immediately dismissed without being heard in his defence. The effect of the judgment is that Holmes's appointment in the Public Service is at present continued, but that probationary officers have no right of appeal against dismissal for misconduct. The court made a formal ordei restraining the Public Service Commissioner from continuing the annulment of the appointment oi Holmes as an officer in the Public Service in terms of the ruling sued by the commission on December 23, 1948.