BATTACHARYA v MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT NEPEAN HOSPITAL SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL HANDLEY JA 24 May 1994 [1994] NSWCA 19 Handley JA In this matter the claimant who appears in person has applied for an injunction until the hearing of the appeal or further order restraining the opponent or any other employee of the hospital from administering Fluphenazine or similar drugs to the claimant for the purposes of his treatment as a mental patient pursuant to the Mental Health Act, 1990. The appeal is from Brownie J who had heard and dismissed proceedings under 8285 of the Act in which Mr Battacharya challenged the legality of his detention under the Act and also sought to restrain his compulsory treatment with Fluphenazine. Brownie J in a reserved judgment delivered on 11 May dismissed Mr Battacharya's summons and dissolved the existing injunction restraining compulsory treatment with Fluphenazine. He suspended the order dissolving the injunction until today. At this point of time the only documents that have been filed in this Court are a notice of motion dated today and a notice of appeal also dated today. I have not had an opportunity of considering the thirty-six page judgment of Brownie J. It appears, however, that Mr Battacharya has been detained pursuant to the Mental Health Act at the Nepean Hospital since 12 February this year and during this time for one reason or another has not been compulsorily treated with Fluphenazine. In the circumstances it seems appropriate, bearing in mind the care which the Court traditionally exercises to protect members of the public against interference with their liberty and physical integrity by public authorities, to continue the restraint granted by the Protective Division and enable a motion for the further continuation of that injunction to be properly prepared and presented. Accordingly, I will adjourn the notice of motion to Monday 6 June next. I order in the meantime that the opponent, the Medical Superintendent of Nepean Hospital, be restrained, by himself, his servants and agents, from administering Fluphenazine to the claimant without the claimant's written consent to such administration. I decline to grant a restraint against the administration of "similar drugs" because a reading of Brownie J's reasons for judgment does not disclose any threat in that respect. I direct that any affidavits to be relied upon by the claimant in support of his motion for continuation of this injunction after 6 June be filed and served on the solicitors for the opponent on or before 4 pm on Wednesday 1 June. I order that the costs of today be costs in the motion.