UNDT/2022/119, Melbiksis
The Applicant contests his non-selection and being found not suitable for the position advertised under JO 18186. He identified as the contested decision the Management Evaluation Unit's response dated 24 March 2021. However, a management evaluation response is not a judicially reviewable administrative decision. Accordingly, the application is not receivable ratione materiae. The above notwithstanding, the Tribunal recalls that it falls under its competence “to individualize and define the administrative decision impugned by a party and identify what is in fact being contested and so, subject to judicial review”. Therefore, “[i]t is the role of the Dispute Tribunal to adequately interpret and comprehend the application submitted by the moving party, whatever name the party attaches to the document, as the judgment must necessarily refer to the scope of the parties’ contentions”. Having examined the case record, the Tribunal considers that the Applicant is essentially contesting his non-selection for the position advertised via the aforementioned JO, which was the object of a first management evaluation request on 29 January 2021 of which he received a response on 24 March 2021. Art. 8 of the Dispute Tribunal’s Statute provides that the Applicant has 90 days from the management evaluation response to follow with an application before the Tribunal, or 90 days from the expiry of the relevant response period for the management evaluation if no response to the request was provided. Considering that the management evaluation response was issued on 24 March 2021, the Applicant had 90 days from that date to file an application before this Tribunal. This deadline expired on 22 June 2021. The instant application, however, was only filed on 9 September 2021. Accordingly, the application is not receivable ratione temporis.
The Applicant contests the decision not to select him for the position of External Relations Officer in Pretoria (“JO 18186”).