Â鶹APP

A necessary condition for receivability of an application is that an applicant has previously submitted the contested administrative decision for management evaluation. As shown by art. 8 of the UNDT Statute, access to the recourse before UNDT is conditioned upon requesting management evaluation of the impugned decision but not upon actually obtaining it. By the same token, a result of management evaluation which does not remove the gravamen of the impugned decision does not bar access to the UNDT. A refusal by the MEU to consider a request for management evaluation on the basis that the MEU found it not receivable ratione personae, must be reviewable by the UNDT. The same principle applies in a situation where MEU finds the request moot, i.e., nonreceivable rationae materiae. Repeated requests for management evaluation do not reset the deadline for filing of an application, notwithstanding whether subsequent management evaluations would have been issued. Exceptions to time limits and deadlines must be interpreted strictly. While not expressly required by the statutes, prior to demonstrating exceptional circumstances, the following minimum criteria for waiving the deadline must be fulfilled: that the delay was not occasioned by the applicant¡¯s lack of diligence and that the delay is not excessive, including that an applicant sought to carry out the procedural action at the first opportunity available to him or her. The standard for diligence, as established by UNAT, must be commensurate with the fact of participating in litigation. Erroneous or unclear statements in the management evaluation as to the receivability of the case do not justify waiving of the time limit for the application ¨C in all cases where management evaluation is required, applicants before UNDT are those who do not agree with the outcome of the management evaluation.