A little learning can be a dangerous thing

Oct 08, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
In every society there are persons who crave public attention and in order to catapult themselves in the limelight, they select certain targets, be it in government or outside of government and probe relentlessly until they discover that which they perceive will give them the public attention about which they are obsessed.
It is beyond dispute that Christopher Lallbachan Ram is one such person and the Ministry of Legal Affairs has become his latest target. Unfortunately for him, his probing and public disclosures of the results have been largely unworthy of publication in the newspapers in the form of news items. As a result, he has now resorted to the forum of the letter column in his quest to draw attention to himself.
Quite frankly, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Legal Affairs is quite flattered and indeed humbled by the attention it is receiving by Mr. Ram. All we ask of him in his public relations work for us, is that he be accurate and fair. A little reading, especially of the law, will do the trick.
His latest disclosures published in the letter columns involve two issues: the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority and the Judicial Review Act.
As regards the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority, Mr. Ram, presumably, having no comments of his own to offer, piggybacks on remarks made by Mr. Leon Rockliffe that were published in the press. Perhaps it is apposite that we address Mr. Rockliffe’s concerns once and for all. The transformation of which Mr. Rockliffe is critical encompasses the following:
1.   the conversion of the Deeds Registry from being a department of Central Government to being a statutory body corporate with functional autonomy, managed by a board comprising of representatives of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Finance, the Private Sector, the Guyana Bar Association and the Berbice Bar Association.
2.   the conversion of the staff of that entity from being public servants, to employees of the newly created authority.
Prior to this transformation, consultations were held with various stakeholders including above mentioned entities. More significantly, because of his known, views Mr. Rockliffe was consulted by the Honourable Attorney General & Minister of Legal Affairs on more than one occasion. Indeed, Mr. Rockliffe was kind enough to acknowledgethis publicly.
The truth of the matter is that Mr. Rockliffe’s views were taken into account but were in the minority. The unfortunate reality is that even the Bar Association which, presumably, represents their interest did not see it fit to nominate either Mr. Rockliffe or Mr. Ram to represent them on the board.   They chose Mr. Rafeek Khan instead.
As they say, the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. The public feedback received from the changes made at the Deeds Registry has been overwhelming. In short, the system has become far more efficient.
As regards the Judicial Review Act, Mr. Ram boldly accuses the Attorney General of frustrating “the decision of Parliament by his failure to bring the Act into operation.” Again, a simple reading of the Act would have saved Mr. Ram much public embarrassment. Section 3(1) of the Act provides:
1.   “An application to the court for relief against an administrative Act or omission shall be made by way of an application for judicial review in accordance with this act and with Rules of Court.”
It is either that Mr. Ram has not read this section or, he did so but did not understand what it means or, worst yet,is shockingly unaware that the Rules of Court currently in force do not provide a procedure for an application for judicial review.
The procedure for same is contained in the new Rules of Court which are in draft. The Act, therefore, cannot be brought into operation without the promulgation of the new Rules of Court and that is a responsibility which does not reside with the Attorney General & Minister of Legal Affairs.
As an attorney-at-law one would expect that Mr. Ram would be acquainted with these elementary matters or at least, will seek the guidance of his seniors at the Bar before he makes such embarrassing public disclosures.
But then again, a little learning can be a dangerous thing.
Indira Anandjit