FRANCIS JOSEPH

A teacher/lawyer who went before the British Law Lords and argued his own case has lost his judicial review battle with the Ministry of Education and the Attorney General and must now pay substantial costs.

Malcolm Johnatty lost his legal battle in which he claimed that the Ministry of Education stopped his salary while disciplinary proceedings were pending against him.

In an 11-page judgment delivered in London yesterday, the Privy Council dismissed Johnatty’s appeal and ordered him to pay costs.

The Privy Council comprised Lords Hope, Rodger, Walker, Mance and Neuberger. Christopher Hamel-Smith, SC, represented the Ministry of Education and the AG.

According to Lord Hope, the appeals brought by Johnatty were the product of an uneasy relationship which he had with his employers in the Ministry of Education over many years.

“Regrettably, his approach to the issues raised by the litigation lacks the objectivity which is necessary for sound judgment,” Hope said.

“Most of the material in his lengthy written case, though forcefully presented, was irrelevant. In it he seeks to raise issues which the board cannot consider as they were not raised in the Court of Appeal.”

Johnatty had been employed at the Chaguanas Senior Comprehensive School by the Ministry of Education as a chemistry teacher since September 1984.

In that capacity he was entitled to payment of a monthly salary. In 1994, he was suspended from duty pending disciplinary proceedings because it had been alleged that he was not performing his duties as a teacher.

But no finding of misconduct was made against him, and he resumed his duties in 1999.

In March 2003, disciplinary proceedings were once again brought against him. On this occasion it was alleged that Johnatty frequently signed the school’s attendance register and then left the school compound shortly afterwards, not to return for the rest of the day.

These proceedings remain pending before the disciplinary tribunal of the Teaching Service Commission.

In June 2004, Johnatty discovered that his salary for that month had not reached his bank in the usual way.

He made inquiries at the Paysheets Section of the Ministry of Education as to why his salary had not been processed.

He was given a handwritten note by a clerk which indicated that his salary was to be stopped in July.

On July 1, 2004, he wrote to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education informing her that as of that date no salary had been paid to him for June 2004.

He asked for an explanation as to why his salary had been stopped and by whose decision that step had been taken.

He gave the letter to Carl Morton, the acting principal of the school, for forwarding to the ministry.

Morton forwarded it to the respondent the same day. The Ministry did not reply to it, so Johnatty received no answer to the questions that he had raised.

This lapse on the part of the Ministry was unfortunate, Lord Hope added.

Johnatty assumed that the ministry had indeed decided to cease paying his salary. He also assumed that this was because of allegations that had been made against him, of which he had had no notice, to which he had had no opportunity to respond and on which no determination had been made by the tribunal.

So he decided to apply for judicial review.