Application of Demas Gigimat

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Judge: Woods J
• Judgment Date: 26 June 1992
• Citation: [1992] PNGLR 322
• Court: National Court
• Year: 1992
• Judgement Number: N1076

National Court: Woods J

Judgment Delivered: 26 June 1992

N1076

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

APPLICATION OF DEMAS GIGIMAT

Mount Hagen

Woods J

12 June 1992

26 June 1992

JUDICIAL REVIEW — Leave — Dismissal from employment in Post & Telecommunication Corporation — Statutory rights of employee — Procedures for dismissal.

Facts

The applicant worked with the Post & Telecommunication Corporation for 21 years, 5 of which were in a supervisory capacity in the business office in Mount Hagen. Investigators found that a large sum of money was missing and the applicant, being the supervisor, was asked to explain. He was subsequently charged under the relevant disciplinary by-laws and, failing to give satisfactory reasons for the disappearance of the money, was dismissed from his employment. His application to the Reconsideration Committee to review the order was unsuccessful. He then applied to the National Court seeking leave for judicial review of the decision.

Held

1. The established principles in seeking leave for judicial review emphasise that an applicant must show that he has an arguable case.

2. The court in considering leave to review is not necessarily concerned with the merits of the decision in respect of which the review is sought but rather the decision-making process itself.

3. It is not the purpose of review to substitute the opinion of the judiciary or the individual judge for that of the authority constituted by law to decide the matter in question.

4. Rejecting the application, a reviewing court is not a court of appeal.

Cases Cited

Papua New Guinea case cited

Kekedo v Burns Philp (PNG) Ltd [1988-89] PNGLR 122.

Other case cited

Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Services [1984] 3 All ER 935.

Counsel

P Luben, for the applicant.

26 June 1992

WOODS J: This is an application for leave to seek Judicial Review of the decisions of certain officers of the Post and Telecommunication Corporation to suspend and dismiss the applicant from his employment with the Corporation.

The applicant aged about 48 years, had been employed by the Corporation or its predecessor since 1969. From 1986, he was the supervisor of the Telecom Business Office in Mount Hagen. Early in 1991, investigators of the Corporation found that a large amount of money had gone missing from the office. The applicant, being the...