Court should not entertain lawsuit of ‘dead’ Police Service Commission- AG argues

Nov 11, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, SC In his oral presentation before the High Court argued on Wednesday that because the life of the Police Service Commission (PSC) expired on August 8, 2021, the constitutional body has no jurisdiction to continue with the case filed to challenge its suspension by President Irfaan Ali.

Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, SC.

“So, we can proceed upon that undisputed fact. The Police Service Commission is a body that is constituted in a manner prescribed] by the Constitution. The way it functions is also the subject of constitutional provisions,” Nandlall said.
During his argument, the Attorney General drew the court’s attention to Article 226 of the Constitution and its various sub-articles. He said that a reading of those articles concludes that decisions of the PSC are made by votes and that it can only act if there is a quorum.
He added that the Commission can only act if it has a quorum. Inferentially, he said “if the Commission is not constituted it cannot have a quorum in law and therefore it cannot act.”
According to him, when legal proceedings are launched, they cannot continue in “autopilot”.
“It must be continued as a result of the presence of parties that have a capacity in law to continue those proceedings,” Nandlall added.
While the Attorney General admitted that he did not find any case laws to support the expiration of a constitutional commission, he did reference legal authorities dealing with the death of a person, who instituted legal proceedings.
In this regard, he noted that the Court should no longer entertain the lawsuit for a dead police service commission.
“When the life of the commission expires, it has the same effect as when a party who is before the court in the form of a human being, dies. The proceedings are not defeated but abated,” the Attorney General continued.
Attorney for PSC, Dexter Smartt accepted that the life of the Commission has expired but noted that the case was filed while the PSC was properly constituted. He nonetheless said that he will rely on the Court’s judgment for guidance.
In this regard, Justice Gino Persaud reserved his ruling for a later date.

Nandlall SC in an earlier written submission had asked the High Court to discontinue or strike out the case filed against the State by the now defunct PSC.
The PSC had moved to the court to challenge President Irfaan Ali’s suspension of its members after allegations of fraud and sexual assault surfaced against some of its members. Ali suspended the members of the Commission by way of letters dated June 15, 2021. By July 21, last, the PSC filed a court case challenging the President’s suspension, which it argued was done unlawfully.
The case has been ongoing with the AG petitioning the Court to have the name of the President removed from the list of respondents in the matter. The Court had since granted Nandlall’s request. The AG is now seeking to have the PSC‘s application struck out on the grounds that the life of the PSC expired on the 8th August last..
The AG noted inter alia, since the entire Police Service Commission became vacant, it cannot lawfully continue to maintain the legal proceedings. To buttress his argument, Nandlall explained that the Police Service Commission, like the other Service Commissions, can only act through and by virtue of their constituent members. “This much is made excruciatingly plain when one examines the powers and procedures of Commissions as are outlined in Article 226 of the Constitution,” he adding that In light of the foregoing, the continuance of these proceedings in the absence of authority would be so fundamental a flaw as to make the proceedings a nullity.”

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