PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER ACT 1971 - SECT 14

PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER ACT 1971 - SECT 14

14 .         Matters subject to investigation

        (1)         Subject to this Act, the Commissioner shall investigate any decision or recommendation made, or any act done or omitted, that relates to a matter of administration and affects any person or body of persons in his or its personal capacity in or by any department or authority to which this Act applies in the exercise of any power or function.

        (2)         References in this Act to the taking of any action shall be construed as including references to —

            (a)         a failure or refusal to perform any act; and

            (b)         the formulation of any proposal or intention; and

            (c)         the making of any recommendation (including a recommendation to a Minister of the Crown).

        (3)         This section does not authorise or require the Commissioner to investigate under this Act any decision made by Cabinet or by a Minister of the Crown or question the merits of any such decision.

        (4)         Subject to subsection (5), the Commissioner shall not conduct an investigation under this Act in respect of any of the following matters, that is to say —

            (a)         any action in respect of which the person aggrieved has or had a right of appeal, reference, or review to or before a tribunal constituted under any enactment or by virtue of the Crown’s prerogative; and

            (b)         any action in respect of which the person aggrieved has or had a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law.

        (5)         Notwithstanding anything in subsection (4), the Commissioner may conduct any investigation notwithstanding that the person aggrieved has or had such a right or remedy as is referred to in that subsection if he is satisfied that, in the particular circumstances, it is not reasonable to expect him to resort, or to have resorted, to it.

        (6)         The Commissioner shall not conduct an investigation into any action taken by a person acting as legal adviser or as counsel.

        (7)         The powers of the Commissioner under this Act in relation to any action taken by a department or authority may be exercised notwithstanding that that action was taken on behalf of, or in the exercise of any functions conferred on, an authority to which this Act does not apply, but nothing in this Act authorises or requires the Commissioner to question the merits of any decision made by such an authority.

        (8)         The powers of the Commissioner to investigate any action may, if in all the circumstances he considers it proper so to do, be exercised in respect of action taken before the coming into operation of this Act.

        [Section 14 amended: No. 68 of 1976 s. 4; No. 124 of 1984 s. 4; No. 78 of 1996 s. 21; No. 78 of 2003 s. 72(1).]