39.—(1) An appellant shall be entitled to object, on any reasonable grounds, to any member of the court hearing his appeal or any interpreter.
(2) Any objection to a member of the court shall be made immediately before the opening of the respondent’s case.
(3) Every objection made by the appellant shall be determined by the judge advocate who shall announce his decision in open court.
(4) If more than one member of the court is objected to, the objection to each shall be considered in the following order—
(a)the judge advocate;
(b)the other members of the court specified to hear the appeal in order of seniority.
(5) If an objection to the judge advocate is allowed, the hearing of the appeal shall be postponed.
(6) If an objection to any member of the court is allowed, a waiting member in respect of whom no objection is made shall take his place; and, if there is no such member, the hearing of the appeal shall be postponed.
(7) Where the hearing of an appeal is postponed in accordance with paragraph (5) or (6), the court shall be reconstituted for the purposes of hearing the appeal.
(8) In any case where the court was to hear appeals by more than one appellant together at the same time, the judge advocate may direct that a postponement under paragraph (5) or (6) shall only apply to the hearing of the appeal of any appellant whose objection had given rise to, or contributed to the need for, the postponement.
(9) In this rule, any reference to a waiting member is to an officer specified as such in accordance with rule 25.