Yarde wants Public Service Appellate Tribunal reactivated, after decades

Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 September 2015, 16:13 by GxMedia

President of the the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Patrick Yarde wants Public Service Appellate Tribunal restored to allow government employees to appeal dismissals and other forms of disciplinary action.

Addressing the opening of the Guyana Public Service Union’s (GPSU)’s Biennial Delegates Conference, Yarde  said the Tribunal should be restored now for the first time in 20 years.

The Tribunal became non-functional in 1995 when then government nominee, George Fung-On, resigned as a member of that constitutional body.

The GPSU has long demanded that the tribunal be activated again, but the previous administration had not done so.

The Public Service Appellate Tribunal is responsible for receiving appeals from public servants, teachers or a police officer if he or she feels that there has been unfair treatment in the area of disciplinary action or dismissal. In its absence, aggrieved persons have been taking their matters to the Court through civil actions.

The Tribunal is made up of a Chairman and not less than two other members appointed by the President. The Chairman can either be a current or former judge of the Court of Appeal while one member must be experienced in administration, personnel management or public affairs.

Another member must represent public officers or classes of public officers and nominated by the organisation that the member is appointed to represent.