Board of Deeds and Commercial Registry would have to address issue of Ms Baksh’s resumption

I refer to the very comprehensive coverage of a meeting I had with the Guyana Bar Association in an article published on page 14 and continued on page 21 of yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, which bore the bold caption, “Convicted Registrar of Deeds expected to resume duties”.

The caption as well as the words attributed to me in the article in relation to the caption, are misleading. Admittedly, I may have contributed to the apparent error because I did not issue a press release, as I normally do, detailing the matters discussed at the meeting. For this omission, I accept responsibility.

Ms. Azeena Baksh was appointed Registrar of Deeds in 2012, by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), pursuant to Article 199 (3) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. To date, that appointment has not been rescinded or revoked by the JSC. The Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs has no powers of appointment, disciplining or dismissal in relation to the office of the Registrar of Deeds.

I am aware that Ms. Baksh was unfortunately charged and convicted. In my humble view, the decision to charge Ms. Baksh was a politically driven one by my predecessor. Ms. Baksh was charged for simply receiving her salary from the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority, an Authority established by the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority Act, which authorized the transfer of all staff from the Deeds Registry and converted them into employees of the Authority, inclusive of the Registrar of Deeds. In my respectful view, there is nothing wrong with a person being appointed by one agency and paid by another. If that person received two sets of remuneration, it would have been a different matter. That is not the case. The Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority Act authorizes the payment of all staff of the Authority, inclusive of the Registrar of Deeds.

At the meeting with the Guyana Bar Association, Ms. Baksh’s resumption of office was raised. I informed the meeting that Ms. Baksh’s conviction is the subject of an appeal and if that conviction is quashed or set aside by a Court of competent jurisdiction, then the Board of the Deeds and Commercial

Registry will address the issue of Ms. Baksh’s resumption, since for all intent and purpose, she remains the Registrar of Deeds, not having been dis-appointed by the JSC.

The above notwithstanding, I wish to thank Stabroek News for their elaborate and otherwise accurate press report of my meeting with the Guyana Bar Association.

Yours faithfully,

Mohabir Anil Nandlall MP Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs