Court reinstates Lau to office

By BOURA GORU KILA
THE National Court has reinstated Frank Lau as provincial administrator for Madang and ordered that he resume duties immediately, pending the determination of a substantive review.
Judge Derek Wood made the order last week after finding that there were exiting court orders in place restraining all relevant government and public offices from taking any steps to revoke his appointment.
“Leave is granted pursuant to order 16 Rule 3 of the National Court Rules for the plaintiff to apply for judicial review of a decision of the first and second defendant dated Feb 16, and published by way of a National Gazette notice No. G102 on Wednesday, Feb 21 to revoke the appointment of the plaintiff,” Wood said.
The matter is between Lau (plaintiff), Prime Minister James Marape, in his capacity as the chairman of NEC (first respondent), NEC (second respondent), the State (third defendant) and Daniel Aloi (fourth defendant).
Wood also ordered that costs of the incidental of the application are costs in the cause, the proceeding shall be referred back to the judicial review track for further matters and time of entry of the orders is abridged to the time of signing of the court, which shall take place forthwith.
Lau was appointed by NEC on May 10, 2022 as the administrator for four years which will expire on May 10, 2026.
“Since my appointment, I have not had a good working relationship with the new governor for Madang and upon taking office, he took steps to remove me from office in late 2022 by liaising with the Department of Personnel Management (DPM),” Lau said.
Lau filed a National Court proceeding in OS No. 266 of 2022 against DPM and obtained restraining orders on Dec 21, 2022, against all relevant government and public offices from taking any steps to revoke his appointment, until the case was properly resolved by the National Court.