Lawrence Kalaivi, John Hevie, Yondi Andale, Petrus Uandi, Gilbert Semen and Geoffrey Waffi v Simon Arua, Superintendent SAID, Department of Education, Peter Baki, Secretary for Department of Education and The Independent State of Papua New Guinea

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (1999) N1922
• Date: 15 October 1999
• Court: National Court
• Year: 1999

National Court: Sevua J

Judgment Delivered: 15 October 1999

1 Administrative Law—Judicial review—Application for leave—Plaintiffs not exhausted administrative procedures—Right of appeal provided in Teaching Service Act—Plaintiffs not appealed to Teaching Service Commission—Application for leave misconceived—Teaching Service Act, s13

2 Independent State of Papua New Guinea v Philip Kapal [1987] PNGLR 417 and Kekedo v Burns Philp (PNG) Ltd [1988–89] PNGLR 122 referred to

3 Where plaintiffs sought leave to apply for judicial review but had not exhausted their right of appeal under the Teaching Service Act:

Held:

Judicial review jurisdiction will not be exercised where other remedies available have not been used.

The plaintiffs had failed to exhaust the administrative procedures under s13 of the Teaching Service Act (right of appeal) therefore they cannot come to this Court until that procedure is exhausted.

There are no exceptional circumstances warranting the Court to exercise its judicial review jurisdiction without the plaintiffs exhausting their right of appeal to the Teaching Service Commission.

The application is misconceived and without merit.

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Sevua J: This is an application for leave for judicial review.

The plaintiffs were all teachers at Passam National High School, near Wewak. Sometime in January this year, they were verbally advised that they were either displaced or terminated and they should vacate their school accommodation and move out of the campus. It appears that one of the reasons for that decision was drunkenness. However, no...