Section 95: Withdrawal and modification of requests
304.Section 95 enables the Lord Chancellor to withdraw or modify a request under section 69, 78 or 87 of the Act in three particular circumstances. First, if the request was to fill a vacancy, he may only withdraw or modify the request with the agreement of the Lord Chief Justice (who has to agree to any decision not to fill an existing post). This situation could arise where there is a change in circumstances or simply because the predictions as to the number of vacancies likely to arise was wrong. Secondly, if the request was other than to fill a vacancy and would have resulted in the creation of additional posts, he may withdraw or modify such a request after consulting the Lord Chief Justice. Thirdly, if he considers that the process of identifying candidates by the Commission or the selection panel was not satisfactory or not applied satisfactorily, he may withdraw a request as a whole, after consulting the Lord Chief Justice, provided that he has not made any recommendations or appointments resulting from that request. The withdrawal or modification of a request (for whatever reason) must be by notice in writing from the Lord Chancellor to the Commission. The notice must state the circumstances and, if it relates to an unsatisfactory process, the reasons why the Lord Chancellor considers it to be so.