Suspended secretary for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Fr Jan Czuba has applied in the National Court seeking to review the National Executive Council (NEC) decision to suspend his appointment.
Justice Nicholas Miviri on Thursday (June 10) heard submissions from parties in the matter and reserved his decision until July 8.
Fr Jan’s lawyer, Darryl Kamen, submitted that the judicial review was to challenge the validity of the NEC decision that suspended Fr Jan and appointed Dr Francis Hualupmomi to act until conclusion of the investigation.
Kamen said Fr Jan was suspended after responding to a show cause notice served on him by the minister for Higher Education Research, Science and Technology regarding allegations raised against him which was subject of a committal court proceedings still pending.
Kamen said the NEC decision was improper as the suspension was not recommended by the Public Service Commission (PSC) as he claimed that PSC was by law entitled to make recommendation to NEC for suspension of departmental heads.