Article 4 Allocation of cases to and functions of panels of Commissioners
The Chairman, or a Commissioner acting on his behalf, shall allocate each case to a panel of three Commissioners.
The panel shall perform the following functions on behalf of the Commissioner:
hold hearings;
determine ancillary appeals;
take ancillary decisions;
give the preliminary indication; and
make the substantive determination.
On appointing a panel, the Chairman, or the Commissioner acting on his behalf, shall nominate one of the panel members to act as its chairman, unless the Chairman is himself a member of the panel, in which case he shall act as the chairman of the panel.
Where the person concerned is a life prisoner, the Chairman, or the Commissioner acting on his behalf, shall ensure that the case is allocated to a panel at least one of whose members is a psychiatrist or a psychologist.
The single Commissioner to whom a case is allocated shall be eligible to sit as a member of the panel for that case, save that where he takes an ancillary decision he shall not sit as a member of the panel determining any ancillary appeal against that decision.
Any decision of a majority of the members of the panel shall be the decision of the Commissioner.
If a member of the panel to whom a case has been allocated is unavailable, the Chairman, or a Commissioner acting on his behalf, may nominate another Commissioner to take his place if he considers that that is necessary to ensure that the case is processed expeditiously.