The sacking of Opetaia Ravai as Water Authority of Fiji CEO in December 2017 on grounds of unlawful and unfair dismissal is going to full trial, the Employment Relations Court has ruled.
The development comes after Justice Anjala Wati ruled on January 19 Mr Ravai didn’t have to furnish WAF with further and better particulars that it had requested.
One of the claims Mr Ravai had made in a statement was that since 2012 and again from 2016, he was required to work under stressful and challenging conditions, and that as CEO steered the authority from being an organisation in complete disarray with little direction, few systems and procedures to one that attracted funding of $800million.
The authority had sought the full particulars of how it was left in disarray between 2012 and 2016. “I do not find that there is any need for particulars to be provided in respect of how the authority was in disarray.
The claim is self-explanatory that the authority was disorganised with few systems and procedures in place,” said Justice Wati.
“The defendant (WAF) should read the claim holistically and not raise alarm after reading each paragraph in isolation.”
Justice Wati has ordered pretrial conference minutes be filed by both parties by February 15. She ordered the authority to pay Mr Ravai $3000 in costs.
