Welcome to the Cook Islands Herald

CI Times Weekly | Current Issue 273 | 20 October 2008

High Court grants health worker’s application for Arbitration

An application for Arbitration has been granted by Justice Tom Weston for health worker who has been dismissed by the Ministry of Health.
The applicant was represented by Tevita Vakalabure of Te Vaka Law PC, who invoked the arbitration clause under a contract of employment with the Health Ministry signed on 5 June 2008.
The worker entered into a contract of employment with the Health Ministry in June but just a few months later received a letter of dismissal dated 1 October 2008.
Legal counsel argued that the dismissal was unfair on several grounds including a breach of Natural Justice, the worker was not given the right to a fair hearing and there is a reasonable suspicion of bias in the decision.
The first respondent in the matter is the Secretary of Health, Dr Roro Daniel and the second respondent is the Attorney General, Sir Terepai Maoate, however, as the matter was ex-parte, the defendants had no legal representative in court.
Justice Weston then requested that the Solicitor General be informed that there were proceedings against the Health Secretary and Attorney General and to attend the proceedings as their legal counsel.
The dismissal is based on what has been described in court as ‘very serious allegations’ which will need to be proved, whereas the worker claims that the dismissal is regarding a personal matter and has nothing to do with her work performance.
The application for arbitration invokes the Arbitration Act 1908 and will be heard in the week beginning 3 November 2008. In the meantime, the court has ordered a stay on any immigration issues and the court has directed the Ministry to continue to pay her wages until mid November 2008.
The applicant does not wish to be named.
Granting leasehold over lands already leased to another party
An application for declaratory orders that a leaseholder has already been granted the lease over land by the elderly landowners and that the granting of an application by a third party for the lease of the same section of land was an error and is invalid.
The problem is that although the leaseholder, Tepoou Bates has a lease, nevertheless, other parties have also been granted a lease to the very same section of the same land in 2007.
The application by legal counsel, Lavenia Rokoika was to ask the High Court to declare that her client’s lease was valid. Counsel told the court that the issue of the doubling up of leases on the same land had already come before heard before Justice Savage on 18 July 2008. Counsel told the court that in the earlier July sitting the land court judge had expressed concern at the action of the land agent in effecting the transaction. Apparently, the third parties had applied for leases over the same section and had been given maps from the Survey Department at the Ministry of Works. The land agent then applied for a ‘lease’ which was granted on the land without the knowledge of the court that in fact the land had already been leased to Bates.
Leave has been granted for filing of memoranda to effect the declaratory judgment. Counsel also asked the court to send a strong warning to the relevant authorities such as the Ministry of Justice (Land Division) and the Survey Department to ensure that no recurrence of this nature occurs again.
Costs of $100 were awarded against the landowners who are pensioners.