The petitioners complained that the Secretary of State for Transport was guilty of maladministration in confirming Road Orders without seeking an assurance from Norfolk County Council that the Balchins would be given adequate compensation for the effect of the road on their home. They now challenged the Ombudsman’s report which had rejected their complaint.
Held: The role of the Parliamentary Commissioner ‘as an investigator is not limited to the strict terms of the issue posed by the complaint’. Sedley J accepted that injustice had been widely interpreted: ‘so as to cover not merely injury redressible in a court of law, but also ‘the sense of outrage aroused by unfair or incompetent administration, even where the complainant has suffered no actual loss” It followed ‘that the defence familiar in legal proceedings, that because the outcome would have been the same in any event there has been no redressible wrong, does not run in an investigation by the commissioner.’
The complaimant: ‘does not have to demonstrate, as respondents sometimes suggest is the case, a decision so bizarre that its author must be regarded as temporarily unhinged. What the not very apposite term ‘irrationality’ generally means in this branch of the law is a decision which does not add up – in which, in other words, there is an error of reasoning which robs the decision of logic.’
Judges:
Sedley J
Citations:
[1996] EWHC Admin 152, [1998] 1 PLR 1, [1997] COD 146, [1996] EG 166, [1997] JPL 917
Links:
Statutes:
Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967
Cited by:
See Also – Regina v Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration ex parte Balchin and others Admn 24-May-1999
. .
Cited – Nicholas Cavanagh Raymond Bhatt Frank Redmond v The Health Service Commissioner CA 15-Dec-2005
A parent had complained about the closure of a hospital unit which led to his daughter not receiving treatment. The Commissioner in her report commented adversely on the doctors involved. Both doctors and the parent sought judicial review of the . .
Cited – Equitable Members Action Group, Regina (On the Application of) v Her Majesty’s Treasury Admn 15-Oct-2009
The applicants sought judicial review of the defendant’s response to a report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman finding maladministration by the defendant in rejecting the recommendation for compensation.
Held: The respondent’s rejection of the . .
Cited – The Manydown Company Ltd v Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Admn 17-Apr-2012
The claimant sought judicial review of the Council’s adoption of planning strategy documents.
Held: The request was granted. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Administrative
Updated: 25 May 2022; Ref: scu.136700