Judge to Rule on SOE Case
High Court judge Justice Jude Nanayakkara is due to rule on a case against the Supervisor of Election Mohammed Saneem on January 27. At around the same time he is scheduled to sentence Suva lawyer Richard Naidu who was convicted in November last year for scandalizing and ridiculing the courts and the judiciary in a Facebook post. Justice Nanayakkara flew out to his home country Sri Lanka last month for a holiday. But with the change of Government it is not clear whether he will return.
In the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) case, the Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) had challenged Mr Saneem for charging the Union for conducting its election of office bearers in 2021. The SOE in response filed a strike out application.
The FTU sought a declaration to determine whether the electoral Act gave the SOE the powers to levy fees to conduct trade union elections. It received an invoice of $11,770.96.
It wanted the court to rule the “decision of the SOE dated 16th February, 2021 to impose charges/fees to conduct the Trade Union Elections in the absence of any prescribed fees is unilateral, unlawful and unjustified.”
It sought a further declaration that the SOE “had exceeded its powers as provided under section 7 of the Electoral Act 2014 by purporting to regulate the tenure of the Union Office Bearers and impose fees to conduct the Union Annual Elections.”
The SOE said the FTU had:
failed to include a statement of questions on which the Plaintiff seeks determination.
failed to provide sufficient particulars to identify the cause or causes of action in respect of which it claims against the Defendant.
disclosed no reasonable cause of action against the Defendant.
its action was an abuse of
process.
the Declarations(s) sought is
now moot point at late.
the Irregularities in the Originating Summons and Supporting Affidavit are fatal. However, the FTU contends that the irregularities are not fatal and can be cured through an amendment, but the substantive matter is of public interest.