51ÁÔÆæ

Competence of decision-maker: Competence of the decision-maker is a cornerstone of the legality of an administrative decision. When the exercise by the Administration of its discretionary power is under judicial review, any lack of authority leads inevitably to the rescission of the contested decision.As this is an essential element for the legality of the contested decision, the authority of the decision-maker has to be assessed by the Tribunal on its own motion, regardless of the parties¡¯ views at any stage of the administrative and judicial proceedings.Delegation of authority: Exclusions...

The Applicant applied twice for the position of Director of Investigations, Office of Internal Oversight Services (¡°OIOS¡±) (¡°the Post¡±) at the D-2 level. The Post was first advertised in a vacancy announcement in 2008 and again in 2009. A selection panel set up by OIOS recommended him as the only qualified candidate for the Post in each instance. Neither of these recommendations was approved by the Special Review Group (¡°SRG¡±) and, as a result, no appointment was made to the Post. A third vacancy announcement was issued, for which the Applicant did not apply. The Applicant submits that he...

Starting date of the 90-day time limit to file an application: The UNDT Statute prescribes that an application before the Tribunal must be filed within 90 days following receipt of the Administration¡¯s response to the request for management evaluation. If the Administration replies after the response period for the management evaluation but before the expiry of the 90-day period, the 90-day period to file an application before the Tribunal starts running again from the date the response is given. Evaluation criteria: It is clear from ST/AI/2006/3/Rev.1 and the Guidelines for programme case...

The burden of establishing bias or the perception of bias lies with the Applicant once the Respondent has made a minimal showing of regularity in the recruitment process. The Applicant must establish with clear and convincing evidence that he was not given full and fair consideration for the vacancy. Whilst the Tribunal was surprised that a person in the Applicant¡¯s position and with the Applicant¡¯s experience should not be recommended, it was unable to conclude that the Applicant had not been given full and fair consideration, particularly in view of the fact that some 13 other candidates...

Suspension of selection process: In view of the broad discretionary authority of the Secretary- General in the organization of services, he may at any time before a candidate has been notified of his/her selection, suspend a selection process. However, he must have a legitimate ground to do so.30-day and 60-day candidates: Pursuant to ST/AI/2006/3, 30-day candidates must be considered before 60-day candidates.Cancellation of a vacancy announcement: The Administration has the obligation to put an end to a selection process vitiated by irregularities. However, it commits a fault for which it...

Language of examination: Pursuant to section 5.6 of ST/AI/2010/7, candidates may choose to take the oral examination in either English or French.Alternative compensation: Given that the placement of the Applicant on the roster of successful candidates does not guarantee that she will be selected for a position, and thus does not carry appointment or promotion, the Tribunal is not required to set an amount of compensation that the Respondent may elect to pay as an alternative to the specific performance ordered.Compensation and evidence of injury: While the Applicant seeks compensation for the...

Jurisdiction: The Tribunal is not competent to examine the lawfulness of a decision made by ECOWAS.

Categories of candidates: The staff selection system established in ST/AI/2006/3/Rev.1 was based on a rigid hierarchy of three categories of candidates in terms of priority consideration: 15, 30 and 60-day mark candidates. If a candidate belonged to a priority category he or she was excluded from the less priority ones. Internal, non-internal and external candidates: ST/AI/2006/3/Rev.1 distinguished between: (1) internal candidates, strictly defined in section 1; (2) non-internal candidates, comprising staff members who did not fall within this definition; and (3) external candidates, those...

Outcome: The application was rejected. The UNDT found that the Applicant failed to demonstrate that the implementation of the contested decision would cause her irreparable damage.

The Tribunal is satisfied that since the Post was advertised well before the expiry of the roster on which the successful candidate¡¯s name was included, the successful candidate was eligible to be selected from the roster andthe decision to select him from the roster was, hence, proper. The Tribunal finds that as a roster candidate the Applicant should have been informed by the hiring manager within 14 days after the selection decision was made in writing. The Tribunal finds that even in the absence of a clearly stated timeframe for notifying applicants who have been eliminated prior to the...