Facts
The applicant was dismissed from employment as a branch manager of the respondent corporation. The Board of Directors dismissed him on the basis of an audit report whose contents were never shown to the applicant to enable him to contradict them. When the Board of Directors met to I deliberate on the applicant's case, the General Manager, who had initiated the proceedings against the applicant and had commissioned the audit, was present but the applicant was absent. The applicant applied for certiorari and mandamus arguing that his dismissal was in contravention of the rules of natural justice.
Held:
(i) Since the audit report was prejudicial to the interests of the applicant and it formed the basis of the decision of the Board, it ought to have been shown to the applicant for his comments and for an opportunity to contradict its contents; failure to do that contravened the right of the applicant to be heard.
(ii) Since the General Manager, who was in the nature of a prosecutor, was present during the deliberations of the Board which dismissed the applicant, the proceedings of the Board were vitiated by bias.
Case Information
Application granted.
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