R (Snaith) v The Ulster Polytechnic
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1981 |
| Date | 01 January 1981 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
Bias - Applicant declared redundant by respondent's establishment committee - Applicant appealed to Governors -Members of establishment committee participated in Governor's meeting - Whether breach of natural justice - Whether certiorari should issue.
The applicant was head of the respondent's Centre for Management Education. Following the merger of the Centre with the Faculty of Business Administration, the respondent's establishment committee decided that the applicant be made redundant. The applicant appealed against this decision to a special meeting of the governors of the respondent in accordance with the respondent's procedure for the dismissal of academic staff. This procedure, which had been drawn up under the Ulster College Regulations (Northern Ireland), 1969, provided, inter alia, that the quorum for such special meetings should be two-thirds of the governors. At the time of the appeal there were forty-two governors; thirty-seven attended the special meeting and of these eleven had attended the meetings of the estabishment committee at which the applicant's redundancy had been decided. At the special meeting the applicant's solicitor asked that members of the establishment committee be disqualified from hearing the appeal, but the chairman of the governors ruled that the appeal should continue. The governors upheld the decision of the establishment committee. The applicant applied for an order of certiorari to quash the governors' decision on the ground that the hearing of the appeal was contrary to the rules of natural justice. Held that, (1) the presence at the special meeting of the governors of the eleven governors who had taken part in the relevant establishment committee meetings constituted a breach of the rules of natural justice, because they acted as judges in their...
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