Should the Re Enlistment of Police Officers Be Allowed?

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Legal Issue Arising From the Background

The matter of the re-enlistment of police officers has several legal issues, this paper will assess to what extent the doctrine of legitimate expectation can be used to ensure that both parties are satisfied. Some of the most glaring legal issue that arises from the background of this paper is the legitimate expectation of those police officers that were issued with letters indicating that their salaries was in fact not accurate up re-enlistment and that their salaries would have been adjusted accordingly, however; to date that has not been completed. It would appear that based on this that some expectation has been created.
The notion of Legitimate expectation was conceived as a procedural issue as outlined in the case of Schmidt v. Secretary of State for Home Office Affairs [1969] 2 CH 149, In this case , American students of scientology resident in the United Kingdom applied to have their stay extended but it was refused because the government objected to scientology. It was argued that Government acted unreasonably in refusing the application. Lord Denning suggested that it depended on whether the person had some right or interest or Legitimate expectation of which it would not have been fair to deprive him without a hearing what he has to say.

In the case of Council for Civil Service Unions v. Minister for Civil Service [1985] AC 374 at page 401 Lord Fraser said: “A legitimate expectation may arise either from an expressed promised given or on behalf of a public authority or from the existence of a regular practice which the claimant can reasonably expect to continue”

In the case of Kent Garment Factory v. The Attorney General of Guyana 46 WIR 176, the appellants were clothing ...

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...tions of Service for all police officers from Constables to Sergeant.

Based on the above policy it is clear that the Commissioner has the discretionary powers to determine the post and the salary of those re-enlisted officers from the rank of Constable up to Sergeant. According to Administrative Law no one person shall have such powers that cannot be questioned, hence; the officers have the right to question the autonomy of the Commissioner as it relates to re-enlistment practices and principles.
In the case of Hafizul Islam (Md.) v. Government of Bangladesh and Other (2002) Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury held that- “legitimate expectation to be enforceable shall have some legal basis. Mere wishful expectation without legal basis is not sustainable in the eye of law. When the action of the government is taken fairly showing reasons, it cannot be struck down”

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