The National Executive Council has been restrained from making any permanent appointment to the post of Agriculture and Livestock Secretary.
Former Secretary, Dr Vele Pat Ila’ava, took out the injunctive order yesterday from the Waigani National Court.
His lawyers made an application in court on Tuesday, seeking to temporarily stop the NEC from making any substantive appointment to the post, pending a judicial review.
The Judicial review has been fixed for October 5 before Justice Leka Nablu.
On June 13, the Waigani National Court granted leave to Ila’ava to file for judicial review, which will look into the process of appointment.
The court today made its ruling yesterday (August 22), based on the premise that there was a serious arguable case, given section 7 on the regulations on the appointment of department heads, which it accords Dr. Ila’ava the right to a performance appraisal before an appointment can be made.
In this case, Dr Ila’ava’s lawyers put to court that there were no performance appraisals done on their client.
The Court also said there would be no inconvenience caused to the department because there is already an acting appointment to that post.
NEC has now been restrained from making any substantive appointments pending the determination of the judicial review proceeding before court.
The Agriculture and Livestock Secretary position has been advertised, however, the injunctive order prevents any substantive appointments to be made to the position.
Dr. Ila’ava’s misappropriation case also remains pending before the Waigani District Court.