(1988)1988 March2 [STYLIANIDES,J.] INTHEMATTEROFARTICLE 146OFTHECONSTITUTION 1.MILTIADESEROTOKRITOU, 2.MARTHAEROTOKRITOU, i Applicants, v. THEREPUBLICOFCYPRUS,THROUGH 1.THEMINISTEROFEDUCATIONAND/OR THEDIRECTOR-GENERAL, 2.THEEDUCATIONALSERVICECOMMISSION, Respondents. (CaseNo.394183). Competence—Reference ofmatter byaMinister toCouncil ofMinisters— Asfromsuchsubmission thelatterbecame,inthecircumstances, thesole competentorgan todealwith it. Dueinquiry—Lackof—Groundofannulment. Generalprinciples ofadministrative law—Act consequential toanactannulledbythe Court—Should,also,beannulled. Theapplicants,whoarehusbandandwife,weremembersoftheEducationalMissioninEngland.Duetoproblemsconcerningthemission,the MinisterofEducation,inMarch1982,madeasubmission totheCouncilof Ministers,whichasaresult,decided toappointaMinisterial Committee 10 withinstructionstolookintothematterandreportbacktotheCouncil. In 1983theCouncilappointedanewMinisterialCommitteeforthesamepurpose. Duetotheinabilityofthemembersofthelastcommitteetomeet,the 404 5 C.L.R. Erotokritou & Another v. Republic Ministerof Education, havingconsulted theother membersof theCommittee,instructedtheDirector-GeneraloftheMinistrytorecallfivemembersof themission,includingtheapplicants. *' j 5 Bymeansofthisrecourse,theapplicantschallenge(a)thedecisionto recallthem,and(b)ThedecisiontopostthematLarnacaand,subsequently,atXylophagou. Held,annulling thesubjudicedecisions: 10
(1)Oncethematterwasreferred toahierarchicallysuperiororgan,i.e.j theCouncilof Ministers,suchorganwasseized of thematter,and,irrespectiveof anypoweruntil thenvestedwiththeMinisterofEducation,it becamethesolecompetentorgantodealwiththematter.Subjudicedecision(a)has,therefore,tobeannulledforlackofcompetence. •
(2)Ithas,also,tobeannulled for lackofdueinquiry(failure toexamineapplicants'personalcircumstancesandtheirrelevantobjecuons). 15
(3)Decision(b)isanactconsequential todecision(a)andhas forthis reasontobeannulled. Subjudicedecisionannulled. Noorderastocosts. · • · Recourse. 20 Recourse against the decision of the respondents to terminate applicants' participation in the Educational Mission in England and order them toreturn to Cyprus. A. S. Angelides, for applicants. • -- R. Vrakimi ·Petridou (Mrs.)y for the respondents. 25 Cur. adv. vult. STYLIANIDES J. read the following judgment. In the present recourse the applicants seek:' 'J 405 r; Stylianides J. Erotokritou & Another v. Republic
(1988)1.DeclarationoftheCourtthatthedecisionoftheRespondent 1,containedinhisletterdated 11.8.83, whereby he(a)terminatedtheparticipationoftheapplicantsintheEducationalMissionin Englandand(b)ordered theapplicantstoreturnand/orbetransferred toCyprusisnullandvoid andwith nolegaleffect what- 5 soever. 2.Declaration oftheCourtthatthetransfer andpostingofthe applicantsatLarnaca and subsequently toXylophagou,decided byrespondent 2, after the aforesaid actofrespondent 1,is null andvoidandwithnolegaleffect. 10 Theapplicantsarehusbandandwife.Theyarebothteachersin theElementaryEducation. IntheUnited KingdomthereisaverylargeCypriotcommunitycomposedofCypriotswhoimmigrated tothatcountry,most of whomareofGreekorigin.InordertoadvanceGreekeduca- 15 tion, learning of the Greek language and to assist the Cypriot Greekcommunityofeducational andculturalmattersinEngland, an Educational Mission wasestablished and teachers from CypruswerepostedinthatMission. Theapplicants,followinganadvertisementinthepressofva- 20 cancies in theEducational Mission in the United Kingdom,on 11.9.78appliedtotheDirectorofElementaryEducationforsuch post.They were selected and by letterdated 27.9.78 they were informed that they would serve until 31.8.80, that is for two schoolyears.Thatlettercontained,also,certaintermsandconditionsoftheirservice. The applicants,however, continued to serve under the same 25 conditions after the expiration of theoriginal term of theirappointment.Theextensionoftheirservicewasnotdoneregularly beforeorshortlyafter theexpirationofeachperiod.Byletterdated 28.8.80 their service wasprolonged until 31.8.
- By letter dated 1.2.82theirservicewasextendedto31.8.82andtheirser- 30 viceuntil31.8.83wasextendedbyletterdatedaslateas23.2.
- 406 3 C.L.R. Erotokritou & Another v. Republic Stylianides J. Itappearsthattheycontinued toserveafter theexpirationof eachperiodandonlyinthemiddleoftheacademicyeartheextensionoftheservicewasdecidedandcommunicatedtothem. Duetoproblemsthathadarisen,concerning theMission,the 5 MinistryofEducationmadeasubmissiontotheCouncilofMinistersinMarch1982.TheCouncilofMinisterssetupaMinisterialCommitteecomposed of theMinistersof Education,Foreign Affairs, Interior, FinanceandPresidency to study theproblems arisingfrom suchsubmissionandreporttotheCouncil. 10 ThisCommitteemeton 11.12.82,madepreparatory workand fixed anewmeetingfor 15.3.83todecide:(a)OnthestructureandcompositionoftheCyprusEducationalMission. (b)Thecriteriaof the selection of themembersof theMis15 sion. (c)TheadministrationandsupervisionoftheMission. (d)TheprogressiverenewalofthemembersoftheMission. TheMinisterial Committeemeton23.4.83.Inpursuanceofa decisionofthesub-committee,aquestionnairewaspreparedand 20 sentto theteachersof theMission whowould completefiveor moreyearsintheUnitedKingdombySeptember 1983inorderto ascertainwhethertherewereanyseriousobstaclesfortheirrecallingtoCyprusfortheSchoolyear 1983-
- InMay 1983theapplicantssenttheirrepliestothatquestion25 naire,givingtheirreasonsforthecontinuation oftheirservicein theMission. TheMinisterialCommitteecontinueditsinquiryanddelibera- 407 Stylianides J. Erotokritou & Another v. Republic
(1988)tions.After ameeting on8.6.84further meetingswerefixed but duetoinabilityoftheMinisterstoattend,theywerenotheld. TheMinisterofEducationon 1.8.83madeasubmissiontothe CouncilofMinistersonthesubjectoftheMission. TheCouncilofMinisterson2ndAugustdecidedthat:"aCom- 5 mittee be appointed consisting of the Ministers of Education, PresidencyandForeign Affairs inordertostudythesaidsuggestionsandsubmitareporttotheCouncil." Shortly afterwards, on 8.8.83,theSecretarytotheCouncilof MinistersrequestedtheMinisterialCommitteesetupon2.8.83to 10 meetandreportbacktotheCouncilwithoutdelay. Theyneithermet,norreportedtotheCouncilofMinisters. Duetotheinability of theMinisters tomeet, theMinisterof Educationon 11.8.83instructedtheDirector-GeneralofhisMinistry torecallfive membersof theMission,including theappli- 15 cants.Thishedid "after consultation with themembersof said Committee." TheDirector-General oftheMinistry,implementingtheaforesaid instructions, wrotetotheapplicants,informing themthatit wasdecidedthattheirparticipation intheEducationalMissionin 20 theUnitedKingdomwasterminated asfrom 31.8.83and,consequently,on 1.9.83 theyshouldreturntotheirdutiesinCyprus. TheapplicantswereatthematerialtimeonholidaysinGreece andtheytooknoticeofthislettersometimelater.Theyprotested invain.TheyreturnedtoCyprusandtheywerepostedbyEduca- 25 tionalServiceCommission atLarnacaandXylophagou. Theapplicantscontend:(a)thattheadministrativeactchallenged wastakenbyanincompetentorgan. 408 3 C.L.R. Erotokritou & Another v. Republic Stylianides J. *(b) that it lacks due or any reasoning and was taken without dueinquiry. Therespondents intheir opposition alleged that the applicants havenolegitimateinterest.The subjudice decision isanadminis5 trative act issued by a public authority. It was taken for apublic purpose,for thecomposition of anEducational Mission inwhich thepublic hasavital interest. Itcreated legalresults affecting the position of the applicants. The applicants are possessed of the necessary legitimate interest toempowerthisCourt totakecogni10 zanceoftheirrecourse. From the facts towhich reference was madeearlieron in this Judgment, it isplain that, irrespective of which was thecompetent organ prior toMarch 1982,on 18.3.82,after the submission oftheMinister ofEducation, theCouncilof Ministerswasseized 15 with thismatter and appointed a Ministerial Committee tostudy theproblem andreport back totheCouncil.TheCouncil became thecompetentorgan.Thereafter neithertheMinisterof Education, northeCommitteeofMinisters werecompetent totakedecision. TheMinisterof Education,even ifhehadanypowerunderthe 20 Law,heplaced thematter inthehandsof asuperiorcollectiveorgan, the Council of Ministers, who thereafter became the sole competent authority. The subjudice decision emanates from the Ministerial Committee,though it wasimplemented bytheDirector-General ofthe 25 Ministry on the instructions of the Minister of Education. The Ministerial Committee exceeded theauthority vested initbythe decision of theCouncilof Ministers andthusthe subjudicedecisionisfaulty, being theresultof excess and/or abuseof power. Forthisgroundonlythesubjudicedecision toterminateappli30 cants'serviceintheUnitedKingdomEducational Missionwillbe declared null and void. Even if the Ministerial Committee were a competent organ, 409 Stylianides J. Erotokritou & Another v. Republic
(1988)again the subjudice decision isfaulty, astherewasnoinquiry,or dueinquiry into thepersonal circumstances of theapplicants and their objections set out in response to the questionnaire sent to themin May 1983. Furthermore noreasonsaregiven,eitherinthedirective of the 5 Minister, or in the letter communicating the said decision to the applicantsandnoneisfound inthematerial inthefile. The second relief prayedrefers tothepostingof the applicants inCyprus.It was an actconsequential tothetermination of their service intheUnited Kingdom Educational Mission,and inview 10 of theannulment of thefirst act, itbecame unnecessary toexaminethevalidity of thesepostings. For the aforesaid reasons, the decision for the termination of the participation of the applicants in theEducational Mission in England and the order toreturn or betransferred toCyprus,con- 15 tained in the letter 11.8.83,is hereby declared null and void and withnolegaleffect whatsoever. Let there benoorder astocosts. Sub judice decision annulled. No orderastocosts. 20 410