Member G Coyle Tribunal Member J Whistler Mr H Dulai v Chief Constable Police Service of Scotland — 2022

The hearing took place in Glasgow on 14 February 2022. The claimant did not attend, and the tribunal found there had been no relevant message from him. His solicitor, Mr D Japp, said he had had difficulty obtaining instructions the previous week and was not instructed to make applications on the claimant's behalf. No application to postpone the hearing had been made by the claimant or by his representative.

The tribunal noted that the claimant had been represented by solicitors since the claim began on 26 May 2020. It also recorded that no application had previously been made for disclosure of the personnel file, and that the relevance of that file to the issues had not been explained. In the absence of any explanation or communication from the claimant, the tribunal inferred that he had made a conscious decision not to attend.

Applying rule 47 and taking account of the overriding objective, the tribunal dismissed the case. It also noted that the claimant had a burden of proof because he had brought discrimination claims. The judgment records no merits findings and no monetary award.