The appeal of the Public Service Commission has been dismissed. Service by the Supreme Court against a first instance decision in an appeal by Central Bank Press Spokesperson and President of the Cyprus Economists Association Aliki Stylianou, which had annulled in 2020 the appointment in 2017 of the then Director of Communication of DISY Sophie Michaelidou to the post of Director of the Press and Information Office.
In its decision, the Supreme Court, in a three-judge panel, rejected the grounds of appeal raised by the Public Service Commission and S. Michailidou as an interested party (EM), agreeing with the first instance decision.
"It follows from the case law that the advantage must be related to all the other elements and special reasons are required to override it," the Supreme Court's decision states.
In the present case, it adds, the NEC "considered as special reasons for overriding the advantage the performance of the EM in the oral examination and the fact that it was a managerial position."
It cites case law to the effect that "a candidate's best performance in the oral interview, such as here, where the EM was judged to be 'excellent' and the appellant 'very good', cannot be a special ground for overruling the advantage".
"Agreeing with the trial court, we hold that, in essence, the NRC limited itself to EM's performance at the oral interview and that no specific and legitimate reasons were given for disregarding the advantage," it noted.
"With regard to the appellant's experience, which is twice that of the appellant, it was known to the EM, but was not correlated in any way with the other evidence," it said.
"In a case, such as this one, where one candidate has an advantage, additional qualifications consistent with the duties of the position, and twice the experience of the other candidate," it is noted, "ecause of the advantage , as well as the correlation of the other elements, should be evaluated by the NEC, so that specific reasons can be given and it can be assessed whether its decision is within the limits of its discretion".
"As the case law has established, it is not permissible for the resonance of an interview to neutralise or distort the objective picture formed of the candidate by the information in the administrative files," the Supreme Court ruled.
Source: CNA
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