Attorney General Anil Nandlall lost yet another case before the High Court, adding to a litany of defeats before the High Court in recent months. An application by the recently constituted Police Service Commission (PSC) to withdraw a case brought by the former Chairman of the PSC Paul Slowe and an oral application for a stay of the proceedings pending the outcome of an appeal filed on the Chief Justice’s ruling in Aubrey Norton v. Attorney General of Guyana and others, were dismissed yesterday by High Court Judge Gino Persaud.
In his ruling handed down yesterday, December 2, 2022, Justice Persaud offered several considerations. He said the two applications have stymied the hearing of the substantive matter filed by Mr. Slowe and there has been one application after another since the matter was filed in the Court and engaged his attention.
In dismissing the application by the AG to stay the proceedings, the Judge viewed it as an abuse of the process of the Court, holding that “there can be no stay of a declaratory order, and I am not prepared to stay the proceedings before me, pending the appeal of the Chief Justice’s ruling, which will leave the proceedings before me in limbo, since that appeal would take time to be heard and determine, and we have no indication how long that would take.”
Justice Persaud considered Mr. Slowe’s right to have the lawfulness of his suspension as PSC Chairman adjudicated upon: “This is also an access to justice issue for Mr. Slowe. “How long should he wait as a litigant, who is entitled to access to justice to have the legality of his suspension ruled upon while the respondents file interlocutory application upon interlocutory application delaying the substantive issue,” he quizzed.
Additionally, on the Police Service Commission application to wholly discontinue the matter, filed by Darshan Ramdhani, K.C., the Court held that “It is patently clear that the application cannot be sustained since the Police Service Commission is not properly constituted and cannot participate in these proceedings. That application in like manner was found without merit and refused.
Justice Persaud found, restating his earlier decision in the substantive case, that “There are no reasonable grounds which would allow the Police Service Commission to withdraw the Fixed Date Application. The Police Service Commission cannot withdraw Mr. Slowe’s right to have the legality of his suspension challenged.”
Mr. Paul Slowe was represented by Selwyn Pieters, Dexter Todd and Dexter Smartt. Oral arguments in the substantive matter will be heard on January 23, 2023.
