REPUBLIC vs. GHANA CARGO HANDLING CO., LTD.; EX PARTEMOSES

The applicant, an employee of Ghana Cargo Handling Co. Ltd., had been moved from the post of traffic research officer, a zonal managerial grade, to the lower post of terminal manager. He wrote two protest letters to the managing director dated 4 and 13 January 1978. Management considered the language of one of the letters rude and insulting and set up an ad hoc committee of senior staff to investigate his conduct under rule 88 of the company’s terms and conditions of service. The committee reportedly recommended that management accept the applicant’s apology and merely warn him. Management instead reduced him in rank and salary. The applicant then sought certiorari to quash both the committee’s proceedings and management’s decision. Portion of judgment: “The applicant is an employee of the Ghana Cargo Handling Co., Ltd.... In this application a rule absolute for certiorari is sought... to quash, firstly, the proceedings of inquiry conducted by the second respondent, and secondly, the decision of the first respondents reducing the applicant in rank and salary.” Also: “The first respondents took indignant exception to the language of the letter exhibit A, as being rude and insulting...”