-to approach Privy Council
(Trinidad Guardian) Embattled Chief Justice Ivor Archie has one final bid to stop the Law Association of T&T (LATT) from resuming its investigation into misconduct allegations levelled against him.
Archie will now have to petition the United Kingdom-based Privy Council after his lawsuit barring the investigation was overturned by three of his Court of Appeal colleagues yesterday.
Presenting submissions after the association scored the major legal victory, lawyer Christopher Hamel-Smith, SC, said LATT had agreed to wait to recall its special general meeting until Archie files his appeal and is granted leave to pursue it.
The meeting, in which the association’s members were expected to discuss the report into the allegations and vote on what action, if any, should be taken, was cancelled after Archie filed the lawsuit in March.
Hamel-Smith also opposed a move by Archie’s lawyer, Ian Benjamin, to stop LATT from allowing two queen’s counsel retained to give advice on the results of the investigation from resuming work.
Benjamin’s request was eventually granted as acting Chief Justice Allan Mendonca and Appellate Judges Peter Jamadar and Nolan Bereaux agreed to put a stay in place.
Archie was not present for the judgement, as he is currently on continued vacation, which he is using to complete a fellowship at the Federal Judicial Centre in Washington, DC. The application for leave to go to the Privy Council was expected to be filed last evening and will be determined by the court next Monday.
In an unusual move, all three judges wrote separate judgements in the appeal although they arrived at the same conclusions. In their individual judgements, they all ruled that High Court Judge Nadia Kangaloo was wrong when she granted Archie’s judicial review lawsuit and the corresponding injunction blocking the investigation. They rejected Archie’s contention that the investigation was illegal as Section 137 of the Constitution provides the only method for investigating allegations of misconduct against a CJ or judge.
Under Section 137, the President appoints a tribunal after misconduct allegations against a CJ are referred by the Prime Minister or against a judge by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC). The tribunal, which includes a chairman and at least two other members, all with judicial experience in Commonwealth jurisdictions, will investigate and then make recommendations.
While Bereaux admitted that the procedure adopted by the association was similar to the process prescribed under the Constitution, he said this did not invalidate it.
“The fact of imitation of the procedure cannot render the enquiry wrong. But more importantly, the apparent mimicking of the procedure is simply an attempt by the LATT to be fair,” Bereaux said.
Jamadar also questioned whether Archie’s suggestion that an investigation into serious allegations could be initiated by the PM or JLSC without preliminary checks.
Jamadar said: “Thus, if the CJ is correct, neither the PM nor the JLSC can undertake any kind of inquiry or investigation, they are mere conduits, mindlessly and irresponsibly representing that a CJ should be investigated with a possible view to suspension and/or removal.”