Context:

Chief Justice opined, a judge should focus on law, precedents and facts of a case and, on the other, the human aspect.

Background

• The principles of natural justice and procedural or administrative fairness are at the foundation of ombudsman decision making.
• natural justice is the historical foundational concept that has been expanded to include the more modern principles of procedural fairness and administrative fairne
• Essentially, natural justice requires that a person receive a fair and unbiased hearing before a decision is made that will negatively affect them.

About Philosophy of Natural Justice

• The three main requirements of natural justice that must be met in every case are: adequate notice, fair hearing and no bias.
• Sometimes, all three of these concepts are grouped together as “the right to a fair hearing.”
• The notice requirement means that the people affected by the decision must be told about the important issues and be given enough information to be able to participate meaningfully in the decision-making process.
• The fair hearing requirement means that the people affected are given a reasonable opportunity to present their point of view and to respond to facts presented by others, and that the decision-maker will genuinely consider what each person has told them when making the decision.
• The no bias requirement means that the person making the decision must act impartially when considering the matter, and must not have any relationships with anyone that could lead someone to reasonably doubt their impartiality.

Principles of Natural justice in Administrative decision

The US Supreme court in Baker Case gave the following components where the Natural justice of an administrative decision has been challenged in the courts.

• The nature of the decision
• The nature of the statutory scheme
• The importance of the decision to the individual affected
• The legitimate expectations of the parties
• The choice of procedure made by the decision-maker.

The Humanism approach of judiciary must include

• Accessible – particularly to those without legal representation and those who are disadvantaged in their ability to understand and exercise their own rights and obligations.
• Timely – decisions must be rendered within a reasonable amount of time.
• Cost-effective – the cost of the services, which are borne by the industry, must be proportionate to the nature of the disputes.

Basic components of Humanistic decisions

• Consider the matters that are within the mandate of courts.
• Listen to both parties and give them the opportunity to respond to any allegations against them.
• Remain independent and impartial against external pressures.
• Honour the litigants legitimate expectations based on the commitments.
• Make all decisions in good faith .
• Reasonable Decisions and accountable decisions.
• Transparent review and complaint procedures.
• Evaluate processes and methodologies on an ongoing basis and make
• improvements and correct mistakes whenever they are identified.

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