Public Service

Commissions
Roles and Functions of the service
commission in the Caribbean
Judicial Service Commission

The Jamaican Constitution 1962, speaks to the establishment

of the Judicial Service Commissio
According to section 111 (1) There shall be a Judicial Service
Commission for Jamaica.
(2) The members of the Judicial Service Commission shall
be
a. the Chief Justice who shall be Chairman;
b. the President of the Court of Appeal;
c. the Chairman of the Public Service Commission;
and
d. three other members (hereinafter called "the
appointed members") appointed in accordance with
the provisions of subsection (3) of this section.
Judicial Service Commission

(3) The appointed members shall be appointed by the

Governor-General, by instrument under the Broad Seal,
acting on the recommendation of the Prime Minister
after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition
a. one from among persons who hold or have held office
as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil
and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth
or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such
court;
b. two from a list of six persons, none of whom is an
attorney-at-law in active practice, submitted by the
General Legal Council:
Functions of the JS Commission

The functions of the Judicial Service Commission are to appoint, remove

and exercise disciplinary control over judges including:
§ Resident Magistrates
§ Judge of the Traffic Court
§ Registrar of the Supreme Court
§ Registrar of the Court of Appeal
§ Puisne Judges
§ Judges of the Court of Appeal
§ All other Judges
§ Participate in the organization’s strategic planning process
§ Process applications for employment in the legal area
Functions of the Judicial Service
Commission
Approve temporary employment for the following persons:
 Clerk of Court
 Deputy Clerk of Court
Represent the Office of the Services Commissions on interview
panels at various Ministries/Departments
Approve acting appointments/assignments of staff
Approve contractual employment for Legal Officers
Prepare submissions for the Public Service
Commission/Appointments Committee
Sign letters of employment
Accepts resignations
Provide advice to the general public
The Public Service commission

According to section 124 of the Constitution of Jamaica;

(1) There shall be a Public Service Commission for Jamaica
consisting of a Chairman and such number of other
members, being not less than three nor more than five, as
the Governor General, acting on the recommendation of the
Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the
Opposition, may from time to time decide.

(3) No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a member

of the Public Service Commission if he holds or is acting in
any public office other than the office of member of the
Judicial Service Commission or member of the Police Service
Commission.
The Public Service commission

(7) The members of the Public Service Commission

shall receive such salaries and allowances as may
from time to time be prescribed by or under any
law or by a resolution of the House of
Representatives: Provided that a. no such
resolution may reduce any salary or allowance for
the time being prescribed by or under a law; and b.
the salary of a member of the Public Service
Commission shall not be reduced during his
continuance in office
Functions of the Public
Service Commission
The purpose of the establishment of the
Commission was to provide for an independent and
impartial body charged with the responsibility of
dealing with matters relating to the appointment,
removal and exercise of disciplinary control in
respect of public officers. 
The Regulations set out how the Commission
would operate with regard to the appointment,
separation, discipline and the selection of public
officers for national scholarships and study leave.
Police Service commission
According to section 129 of the constitution of Jamaica;
(1) There shall be a Police Service Commission for Jamaica
consisting of a Chairman and such number of other
members, being not less than two nor more than four, as
the Governor General, acting on the recommendation of
the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of
the Opposition, may from time to time decide

(3) No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a member

of the Police Service Commission if he holds or is acting in
any public office other than the office of member of the
Judicial Service Commission or member of the Public Service
Commission.
Police Service commission
(4) A member of the Police Service Commission shall not,
within a period of three years commencing with the date
on which he last held or acted in that office, be eligible for
appointment to any office power to make appointments
to which is vested by this Constitution in the Governor-
General acting on the advice of the Police Service
Commission.

(5) The office of a member of the Police Service

Commission shall become vacant a. at the expiration of
five years from the date of his appointment or such
earlier time as may be specified in the instrument by
which he was appointed;
Function of the police
service commission
The Police Service Commission is required to make
recommendations to the Governor General in respect for:
§ Appointments and/or promotions of members of the Jamaica
Constabulary Force of and above the rank of Inspector;
§ Confirmation of appointments of and above the rank of
Inspector;
§ Retirements – general, ill-health, age, pre-mature retirements,
retirement in the public interest;
§ Disciplinary proceedings and punishment against members of
and above the rank of Inspector;
§ Appeals of all ranks;
§ Selection of officers and members for training courses and
study leave.
PUBLIC Service Commissions
in the Caribbean
The West Indian constitutions preserve the concept of a neutral non-political
public service and jettison the title 'Civil Service' in favour of the 'Public Service'.
And the constitutional mechanism for sustaining the non-political Public Service is
the establishment of various Service Commissions vested with the power of
appointment, discipline and dismissal of public officers in a constitutionally
protected environment. This concept of a neutral, nonpolitical public service was
judicially recognised by the Privy Council in Thomas v Attorney General of Trinidad
and tobago. The dictum was made with reference to Trinidad and Tobago, but is
understood to apply to all the Caribbean territories that recognise the Privy
Council as its final Court of Appeal

Except for Trinidad and Tobago and St Vincent, the appointment of the
members of the Service Commission rests ultimately on the decision of the Prime
Minister. The members of the Commission, however, do enjoy some form of
tenure as well as protected conditions of service. In Jamaica and Trinidad and
Tobago, the members may be removed for cause without necessarily invoking a
tribunal procedure. In all other territories, removal follows upon a tribunal
procedure.
PUBLIC Service Commissions
in the Caribbean
The requirement in all the constitutions for consultation with the
Leader of the Opposition gives credence to the constitutional
intendment that appointments to the membership of these
Commissions should enjoy broad consensus and should be seen as bi-
partisan.

Other constitutional devices put in place to buttress the independence

of the service Commissions are the exclusion of Members of Parliament
from membership, and the protection of their tenure. A majority of the
constitutions provide that a member of a Service Commission may only
be removed for cause, which implies inability to discharge the functions
of office arising from infirmity of body or mind or for misbehaviour.
Ultimate removal can only be carried out after an impartial tribunal
adjudication, by persons trained in the law, recommending removal The
Commissions established are the Public Service Commission, the Police
Service Commission, and the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.
PUBLIC Service Commissions
in the Caribbean
Other protected Public Service posts which require
a tribunal hearing before dismissal are those of the
Director of Public Prosecutions and the Auditor General
(referred to in some jurisdictions as the Director of
Audit). These officers may only be removed for inability
to perform the functions of their office or for
misbehaviour. The tribunal to investigate these causes
is appointed by the Head of State on the advice of the
Judicial and Legal Service Commission and is chosen
from persons who hold or have held or are eligible to
hold high judicial office.
PUBLIC Service Commissions
in the Caribbean
The constitutions vest the Public Service Commissions with the power to
appoint, discipline and remove public officers. Does the power to discipline
imply the power to transfer? In the Belizean Constitution, for example, such
unclarity has been eliminated by providing clearly that the power of transfer
vests in the Public Service Commission. Section 123(1) puts the issue beyond
doubt by providing that: any reference in this Constitution to power to make
appointments to any public office shall be construed as including a reference
to power to make appointments on promotion and transfer to that office and
the power to appoint a person to act in that office during any period during
which it is vacant or the holder thereof is unable to perform the functions of
that office (Smith v AG, Suit No 369 of 1982, H Ct Belize)

Public officers who are aggrieved by a decision of the Commission have a

constitutional right of appeal to an appellate tribunal, variously called a
Public Service Board of Appeal
Thomas v Attorney-General of
Trinidad and Tobago: PC 1982
References: [1982] AC 113, (1981) 32 WIR 375, [1981] 3 WLR 601
Coram: Lord Diplock
Ratio: The court deprecated the ‘spoils’ system which operated within
the post office.
Lord Diplock set out the purposeof the constitutional commission: ‘The
whole purpose of Chapter VIII of the Constitution which bears the rubric
‘The Public Service’ is to insulate members of the civil service, the
teaching service and the police service in Trinidad and Tobago from
political influence exercised directly upon them by the government of the
day. The means adopted for doing this was to vest in autonomous
commissions, to the exclusion of any other person or authority, power to
make appointments to the relevant service, promotions and transfers
within the service and power to remove and exercise disciplinary control
over members of the service. These autonomous commissions, although
public authorities, are excluded by section 105(4)(c) from forming part
of the service of the Crown.’
That case established beyond a doubt that the common law doctrine of dismissal at
pleasure of Crown servants was no longer good law in the light of the Constitution
of Trinidad and Tobago and, by necessary implication, of the independent
Commonwealth Caribbean States.
It is instructive to explore in a little more detail the reasoning behind the conclusion
reached in Thomas. First, the Privy Council relied heavily on the view that the
chapter in the Trinidadian Constitution dealing with the Public Service existed
principally to insulate members of the Public Service from the political influence
exercised directly upon them by the government of the day. In order to achieve
that purpose the Service Commission was vested with powers free from political
influence and direction. The Privy Council concluded, therefore, that the power to
remove a public servant had to be one to remove for cause. The second plank of
the decision was the invocation of the equality of treatment clause in the
Constitution. The court reasoned that to dismiss public servants at whim would
defeat the equality of treatment clause. The third basis for the decision in Thomas
was that dismissal at pleasure was a common law doctrine that arose out of the
relationship with the Crown. The transfer of the power to the Service Commissions
to employ and dismiss public servants did not alter the position of the Crown as
employer and so did not carry with the transfer the right to dismiss at pleasure.
Class Activity Question 1