Health Care Complaints Commission v Karalasingham

The Health Care Complaints Commission (the Commission) appealed to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales against a decision of the Medical Tribunal. The dispute concerned the Tribunal's finding that the Commission had not proven that the respondent practitioner was not of good character, and its subsequent dismissal of a complaint.

The Court of Appeal was required to determine whether the Commission had a right of appeal under section 90 of the *Medical Practice Act 1992* (NSW) against the Tribunal's decision. Specifically, the Court had to consider the meaning of an "error with respect to a point of law" as a basis for appeal, and the circumstances in which the Court could interfere with the Tribunal's exercise of its disciplinary powers.

The Court reasoned that an appeal under section 90(1)(a) of the Act was not limited to situations where a specific question of law was formally identified and decided by the Tribunal during its proceedings. Instead, it was sufficient if the Tribunal was required to identify and apply a legal principle in reaching its decision, and in doing so, made an error of law. The Court noted that the Tribunal's determination of whether the respondent was "not of good character" for the purposes of section 36(e) of the Act necessarily involved the application of legal principles, even if the phrase itself did not have a special technical meaning.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.