The United Kingdom’s Privy Council has heard final arguments in a case involving former UDeCOTT chairman Calder Hart, who successfully challenged adverse findings made against him by a commission of enquiry (CoE) into the failed Las Alturas housing project in Morvant.

The hearing, presided over by five Law Lords – Lords Sales, Leggatt, Clarke and Lady Rose and Lady Simler – examined whether Hart was denied a fair opportunity to respond to criticisms before they were published in the commission’s report. The panel reserved judgment after hearing submissions from lawyers representing Dr Myron Wing-Sang Chin, one of the commissioners of the enquiry, who is appealing a 2023 Court of Appeal ruling in Hart’s favour.

In that ruling, the Court of Appeal unanimously quashed the commission’s findings against Hart, stating he had not been given notice or a chance to defend himself. Justice of Appeal Peter Rajkumar, delivering the judgment, said it was “a fundamental requirement of natural justice and procedural fairness that a person be afforded the opportunity to respond… rather than being condemned unheard.”