Sections 54 and 55: High Court applications by the Attorney General
These two sections grant the right to the Attorney General to apply to the High Court in cases of systemic maladministration. There must first have been a finding by the NIPSO of systemic maladministration and a request from the NIPSO to the Attorney General to make this application. Unlike applications to the county court, this type of application is not made by an individual complainant but by the Attorney General. The High Court has the power to order the listed authority involved to do, or not to do, a particular thing. Where the matter being investigated relates to professional judgement (see sections 15, 16 and 17) then rather than looking at systemic maladministration, the test is whether systemic injustice has been sustained as a result of this judgement.