Ombudsman calls for injustices tribunal decisions to be honoured

The Ombudsman, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Said Pullicino, declared in an Opinion published yesterday that it is the duty of public authorities and bodies, including those set up under the Constitution such as the Office of the Ombudsman and the Public Service Commission, to acknowledge and, whenever circumstances so warrant, implement decisions by the Tribunal for the Investigation of Injustices.

The Opinion was expressed in a letter sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Ombudsman pointed out that, on various occasions, his Office is asked to investigate why decisions by the Tribunal for the Investigation of Injustices are not implemented by the authorities to whom these decisions are directed.

"In my view, the principles of fair and proper administration in the public sector require each body, whether set up or not under the terms of the Constitution, to accept, respect and implement decisions taken by other authorities as long as these decisions are within the limits of their respective competence and their specific jurisdiction," the Ombudsman said.

"This means that, while each institution is free to be critical of decisions taken by other authorities in the exercise of the particular functions that are assigned to them within their jurisdiction, including judgments that are issued by the courts and by tribunals, it is not admissible that these decisions are not accepted as being final and binding upon any other authority."

It is the duty of public administration at large, he added, to enact recommendations that are issued with a view to rectifying an injustice and, whenever these recommendations envisage an alternative remedy, to do so in the best possible way in favour of a citizen "who is aggrieved by an unjust administrative decision".

Reacting to these comments, the Labour Party said it "warmly welcomed" the Ombudsman's Opinion.

"The position taken by the Ombudsman in favour of the implementation of decisions made by the tribunal was in line with the position assumed by the MLP for the past few years," the party noted.

Since Joseph Muscat's election to the leadership, the party had launched a series of initiatives so that justice could be done with people whose case before the tribunal had been upheld but who had been given no remedy, the party said Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia augured that the Ombudsman's Opinion would lead the government to act quickly in favour of such people. He also noted that, recently, both former PN general secretary Joe Saliba and his successor Paul Borg Olivier said such people who had won their case should be granted a remedy.