New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT ACT 1979 - SECT 34C

34C Arrangements for dealing with court hearing matters

(1) Proceedings that are dealt with under this section are to be dealt with, at the direction of the Chief Judge--

(a) by a Judge, or

(b) by a single Commissioner, or

(c) if, in the opinion of the Chief Judge, the hearing of the proceedings is likely to be lengthy, or if the proceedings involve a publicly controversial site, or a publicly controversial development, or if the proceedings involve a substantial number of issues, or if the Chief Judge is of the opinion that it is otherwise appropriate to do so, by a panel consisting of--

(i) two or more Commissioners, or

(ii) a Judge and one or more Commissioners.

(2) The appointment of a person to a panel is to be made having regard to the relevance of the person's expertise and experience to the subject of the proceedings.

(3) If a panel consists of two or more Commissioners, the provisions of section 36(2)-(7) apply to the proceedings before the panel in the same way as those provisions apply to proceedings under section 36.

(4) If a panel consists of a Judge and one or more Commissioners--

(a) subject to this Act and the rules, the panel has and may exercise the functions of the Court, and

(b) the Judge is to preside at the hearing of the proceedings before the panel, and

(c) the Commissioner or Commissioners may advise and assist the Judge but are not to adjudicate on any matter before the panel, and

(d) the provisions of section 37(4) apply to the Judge who is a member of the panel in the same way as those provisions apply to a Judge before whom proceedings referred to in section 37(1) or (2) are pending, and

(e) the decision of the panel is taken to be the decision of the Court.

(5) The provisions of section 36(2), (3), (5), (6) and (7) apply to the hearing and disposal of proceedings under this section by a single Commissioner in the same way as those provisions apply to the hearing and disposal of proceedings under that section by a single Commissioner.