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Duty of Fairness
It is well settled that, in presenting
the evidence in support of an application for a disqualification
order, the applicant has a duty to be fair. This has been
summarised in one of the cases as follows:
"At this stage I want to say a
little about the applicants duties. It is accepted that these
are not adversarial proceedings but have an element of public
interest any may entail penal consequences. It follows that
there is a duty on the applicant to present the case against
each respondent fairly. Many of these applications go by default
or are defended by litigations in person, and the practice
is for an official in the Department of Trade and Industry
to swear a short affidavit referring to charges, specified
in a detailed affidavit sworn by the receiver or liquidator.
In my judgement that second affidavit
should not omit significant available evidence in favour of
any respondent. It should attempt to deal with any explanation
already proffered by any of the respondents. It should endeavour
to apportion responsibility as between the respondents and
it should avoid sweeping statements. I do not know who drafted
the receivers affidavit in the present case, but it does seem
to me to fall down on all four counts."
(SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRADE AND
INDUSTRY -V- HICKLING (1996) BCC 678 AT 690 B-D)
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