Serve court papers properly

 By CHARLES MOI
CHIEF Justice Sir Salamo Injia says an application filed by a political party seeking the legal interpretation of certain sections of the Constitution should be properly served on interested parties.
Sir Salamo was commenting on a case filed in the Supreme Court by the general secretary of the Peoples National Congress Edward Mike Jondi.
Sir Salamo told Jondi’s lawyer Linda David that the court documents should be personally served on the persons, and not through their offices.
He said an order he issued on May 9 required David to personally serve court documents on Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Parliament Speaker Theo Zurenouc, Opposition Leader Don Polye and Attorney-General Ano Pala.
Sir Salamo was informed by David that the documents were instead served on the staff of the persons concerned. Sir Salamo told David that there was no guarantee that the court documents would have reached the specific persons named.
He advised David to seek an alternative directive from the court if the persons could not be served personally.
The Court ordered that:

• Jondi to effect personal service of the application to Pala, Zurenouc, Polye, and O’Neill within 14 days;
• Within seven days of the service of the application on persons concerned, they shall each file and serve a notice of appearance.

The matter returns to Court on June 17 for further directions.
Jondi filed the application in March  asking the court to interpret Section 142 (Prime Minister), Section 143 (acting Prime Minister), and 145 (motions of no confidence) of the Constitution.