Lindeberg and Criminal Justice Commission

Lindeberg and Criminal Justice Commission
(1999 S0003, 9 August 2001) 

In his external review application, the applicant asked the Information Commissioner to investigate his contention that the CJC should hold additional documents, responsive to the terms of his FOI access application, which had not been identified and dealt with by the CJC. 

The Information Commissioner undertook an investigation and informed the applicant of his preliminary view that there were no reasonable grounds for believing that additional responsive documents existed in the possession or control of the CJC.  The Information Commissioner invited the applicant to lodge written submissions and/or evidence in support of his case that there were reasonable grounds for believing that additional responsive documents existed in the possession or control of the CJC, and specifying what further searches and/or inquiries the applicant contended the CJC should reasonably be required to undertake in an effort to locate the requested documents. 

The applicant responded by asking the Information Commissioner to disqualify himself from dealing with this application for review on the ground of ‘reasonable apprehension of bias’.  In this interim decision, the Information Commissioner explained his ruling that there were no grounds that might cause a fair-minded observer to have a reasonable apprehension that the Information Commissioner might not bring an impartial and unprejudiced mind to the resolution of the 'sufficiency of search' issues involved in this case.  The applicant was given an additional opportunity to lodge written submissions and/or evidence in support of his substantive case on the 'sufficiency of search' issues.