EXCLUSIVE. A SHERIFF who resigned in disgrace after being caught drink-driving is back in the Scottish judicial system as a #74,000-a-year chairman of employment tribunals.

Mr Mark Sischy's return would not be tolerated under the appointments system which operates in England and Wales.

He would not even have been granted an interview because of his criminal conviction.

His job was not advertised. The #74,464 salary is met by taxpayers.

Mr Sischy's appointment, via a part-time post in the first instance, will further fuel charges of cronyism and jobs for the boys under the Scottish system, which appears to be less open and transparent than south of the Border.

All part-time chairmen's posts in England are advertised under a policy adopted by the Lord Chancellor to draw on ''best available recruitment practices,'' with emphasis placed on open competition.

In Scotland, the posts are not advertised, apparently on grounds it would not produce ''a larger field of people with the necessary kind of experience''.

Instead, aspiring candidates make themselves known either to Mrs Doris Littlejohn, president of Employment Tribunals (Scotland) or to the nation's leading judge, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, the Lord Justice-General and Lord President of the Court of Session.

Mr Sischy was banned for two-and-a-half years for being almost three times over the drink-drive limit. That timescale does not run out until November.

The ban was imposed on May 15, 1997. But by the end of the year, he had re-emerged as a part-time chairman of employment tribunals, whose current pay rates are #332-a-day, plus expenses for travel and subsistence.

Promotion has now followed, with Mr Sischy's full-time job, based in Dundee, confirmed last month by Lord Rodger.

The vacancy was circulated only among the small pool of part-time chairmen in Scotland.

Their caseloads can include drink-related incidents emerging as key factors during evidence at hearings into claims for unfair dismissal.

Mr Sischy, who sat as a sheriff in Glasgow, tendered his resignation from the #79,667-a-year post he had held since 1990 before appearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

He was fined #800 and banned from driving for two-and-a-half years.

He had been caught with 100mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath by police while driving to a shop near his home. The legal limit is 35mg.

Sheriff John Dean told him the fine and period of disqualification had to reflect the level of alcohol in his body.

After sentence, Mr Sischy refused to be drawn on what his future plans were. Within months, he was a part-time tribunal chairman.

Now full-time, and with five months of the original drink- driving ban still to go, he is earning almost as much as before his fall from the Bench.

Lord Rodger's counterpart in England, the Lord Chancellor, specifically expresses his disgust over drink-driving in a memorandum on conditions of service for tribunal members.

His rules and regulations make clear that criminal behaviour, including drink-driving, is unacceptable.

A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor acknowledged that applicants with spent convictions would not necessarily be barred from becoming tribunal chairmen.

But he added: ''An applicant would not be considered for the period of his disqualification.''

In other words, anyone still serving a ban would not be interviewed.

In his memorandum, the Lord Chancellor warns he would consider removing members if convicted of a grave offence.

In particular, he regards ''conviction for an offence of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs as so grave as to amount prima facie to misbehaviour''.

His spokesman said there was no question of a chairman having to resign automatically if convicted after taking up the post. Each case would be considered on the individual circumstances.

But the spokesman stressed: ''No applicant would be considered for the job while still banned from driving ... he regards drink-driving as a very serious offence.''

Candidates were specifically warned of the Lord Chancellor's views on drink-driving, both verbally and in writing, during the initial application process, then at interview, and on appointment.

Mr Sischy's ban emerged during an investigation by The Herald into the Scottish appointments system.

He offered no explanation for his appointment. When approached, he said: ''I think I know what you want to talk to me about. You will understand that I cannot comment.''

Asked again to discuss issues, he said: ''I cannot comment. It is a matter for Doris Littlejohn and the Lord President.''

Mrs Littlejohn has still to reply to questions lodged by The Herald, and Lord Rodger has refused to comment.