Khaberni - The Supreme Administrative Court issued a final ruling that included the cancellation of a decision by the Cabinet dated (28/8/2024) that included referring a Jordanian diplomat to retirement based on a recommendation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs.
This occurred in a session held by the court chaired by the President of the Supreme Administrative Court, Judge Nasser Al-Tall, and members Judges Adnan Friehat, Mohammed Al-Omari, Dr. Fayez Al-Mahasneh, and Dr. Hisham Al-Majali, with the presence of the appellant's lawyer Rateb Al-Nawaiseh and a representative of the Administrative Public Prosecution.
The facts of the case are summarized as follows: the appellant was appointed on (1/11/2004) with the rank of Attaché in the Diplomatic Corps at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs. She holds a Ph.D. from Sorbonne University - France - in the precise specialization of Legal Sciences/International Law with distinction and honors. She progressed through numerous diplomatic positions including her work in the Directorate of International Relations and Organizations, European Affairs, Jordanian Embassy in Paris, Jordanian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Jordanian Embassy in Qatar, and the Jordanian Consulate in Dubai, among other positions held, and had been at the rank of Advisory Diplomat since (2017). Earlier, the appellant had filed several lawsuits at the Administrative Court contesting decisions related to her non-promotion despite her entitlement to be promoted to the rank of Envoy before the amendments made to the diplomatic cadre system. The last of these lawsuits was Khaberni lawsuit number (411/2024), which was under consideration by the Supreme Administrative Court regarding her promotion. However, during the course of this lawsuit, a decision was issued by the Cabinet based on a recommendation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs which included her referral to retirement Khaberni effective from (2/11/2024). In light of this decision, the appellant filed a lawsuit at the Administrative Court contesting the decision of her retirement through her lawyer Rateb Al-Nawaiseh where it was decided to reject the appellant's lawsuit, which led her to challenge that judgment at the Supreme Administrative Court wherein she outlined the aspects of the challenge to the contested Cabinet decision. After completing the arguments and evidence in the case, the Supreme Administrative Court today, in its ruling, found that legal and judicial jurisprudence had authorized proving the defect of misuse of authority by circumstantial evidence, and through the review of the evidence presented in this case, it was shown that the decision of the Cabinet Khaberni was based on a recommendation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs, which came against the backdrop that the appellant had previously filed several lawsuits against him concerning her non-promotion, and that the recommendation was made before she completed her retirement period and the effective date of the retirement decision was set as the last day of her completing twenty years of service, forming a presumption of misuse of authority and that the decision to retire her was flawed as argued in the appellant's lawsuit. Moreover, the court found through the official file of the appellant that she holds extensive academic and practical experiences, in addition to her official file being the natural repository of her life and professional behavior which contained several letters of praise for her conduct and commitment in her duties, and her file revealed no blemish to fault her. Additionally, at the time the contested decision was issued, her age was no more than (45) years, making the decision to retire her flawed by the defect of misuse of authority and not aimed at achieving the public good, thereby necessitating its cancellation.
