No public authority is exempt from judicial review – judge

A court yesterday chastised the Superintendent of Public Health, insisting his office was not above the law when issuing a pharmacy licence.

Mr Justice Joseph Micallef made his comment when deciding a lawsuit filed by Michael Scicluna after the licence of his pharmacy in Żabbar was revoked. He asked the court to declare his licence valid and to impose a time limit within which he would be able to open and operate the pharmacy.

The Superintendent pleaded that his office and his office alone had the discretion and was competent to decide whether a licence ought to be granted. He said there were valid reasons at law for the licence not to be issued because the legal distance between the new pharmacy and two other existing pharmacies had not been observed.

However, Mr Justice Micallef, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, pointed out that the Superintendent’s pleas led one to believe that he considered himself above the law and that, in the event that the court were to decide in Mr Scicluna’s favour, the Superintendent could reverse such decision. No public authority ought to portray itself as being exempt from judicial review.

In this case, the court was not being asked to issue a licence in favour of Mr Scicluna. The court had been asked to decide whether or not the licence that had originally been approved was still valid.

It turned out that Mr Scicluna’s request for a licence had been approved by the Superintendent but that the decision had been overturned following objections filed by two other existing Żabbar pharmacies.

The court found that Mr Scicluna’s proposed pharmacy was located more than 300 metres’ walking distance from the other pharmacies. Mr Justice Micallef, therefore, upheld Mr Scicluna’s application and found that his licence was valid. The Superintendent was ordered to decide on the issue of the licence without delay.