Unsuccessful candidate's bid to stop MCCA directorship selection process fails

A court has given short shrift to an application for an injunction that would prevent the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority from publishing a vacancy for a directorship in one of its departments.

The Authority had issued a call for applications the post of director complaints and conciliation on 14 August 2015, but after it was not satisfied with the suitability of any of the candidates who had applied, later that month it published a second call for applications.

Lawyer Irene Bonello had been interviewed for the post and had been marked positively by two of the three members of the interviewing board, but was not given the post after the board's chairperson had overruled the other two members.

The unsuccessful candidate had applied for an injunction against the fresh call for applications, arguing that as she had placed first in a binding selection process, the position was not vacant, not least because the Authority had not specifically reserved the right to refuse all candidates. As a result, Bonello submitted, she “had a right to be appointed to the post.”

The authority rebutted the plaintiff's assertions, however, saying that Bonello had no legal basis for her claim and that the Authority enjoyed absolute discretion as to who it appointed.

In his decision dismissing the application for an injunction, Mr. Justice Silvio Meli, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court held that, amongst other things, the warrant was not necessary to protect the right vaunted by the plaintiff, as the existence of that right had not been proven.