JUDGMENT

Faiza Tamby Chik J:

To fully appreciate the background of this case, it is necessary for me to set out the background. The Penang Port Commission (PPC) is a public authority created by the PPC Act 1995 (Act 140) (Revised-1974). The Commission consists of the Chairman, the general manager and between five to nine Commission Members (s. 5). The Commission is vested with powers, inter alia,to appoint and employ such officers and servants (s. 24 and 18) and make such regulation of service (s. 15). As the PPC at the material time employed more than 3,000 workers, the burden of attending to the employment of all officers and servants of the PPC was heavy on the Commission. In practice the Commission only directly attends to the employment and disciplinary matters of Division 1 and 2 officers and delegates the employment and disciplinary matters of Division 3 and 4 workers to the management. The management comprises of the general manager, the principal executive officer of the Commission (s. 17), Heads of Department and Personal Manager. In exercising the powers delegated by the commission to the management over the employee workers in division 3 and 4 it was a convention in the