NATIONAL Court judge Timothy Hinchliffe expressed surprise last week that the State, the National Executive Council and the Prime Minister were not named in an application over the appointment of the Simbu administrator Joe Bal.
He said the three parties should have automatically been named in the current court proceedings as they were directly involved in Mr Bal’s appointment as the administrator of Simbu in 2005.
The judge said there were also other questions that needed to be answered before he could hear Mr Bal’s application to stand a court decision last Jan 14 this year, which nullified his appointment.
“These questions have to be answered and things done correctly before I can make any decision,” he told the lawyers of Mr Bal and Joseph Kunda Naur, and then adjourned the hearing to March 7.
Justice Hinchliffe also criticised a local radio station for misreporting the case earlier last week.
It had announced that the Supreme Court would rule whether Mr Bal or Mr Naur was the rightfully-appointed administrator.
He said media information should be correct so as not to cause a conflict between supporters of the opposing parties.