Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT Held or Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT Pronouncements
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that the nature of the contested decision before Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT was not entirely clear. On the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT¡¯s finding that the Appellant had not adduced any evidence in support of his claim that the Settlement Agreement was imposed upon him by duress and threats, and therefore must fail, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found no error of law or fact in the decision and affirmed the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT judgment on this point. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT failed to deal with the Appellant¡¯s claim of harassment and discrimination. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that the Appellant¡¯s right to due process entitlement him to a fair hearing and a fully reasoned judgment of his application. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT¡¯s omission to adjudge the whole of the Appellant¡¯s application was a violation of his due process rights and constituted a procedural error such as to affect the decision of the case. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT allowed the appeal in part and remanded the case to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT to complete the hearing of the application.
Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed
The Applicant made an application to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT, subsequent to signing a Settlement Agreement, alleging, inter alia, that the Agreement was signed under duress. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT, restricting itself to the question of whether the case was receivable, found that it was not and that the claim of duress was devoid of merit.
Legal Principle(s)
Due process entitles an applicant to a fair hearing and a fully reasoned judgment of his or her application.