City Hall to appeal High Court ruling

…on parking meter by-laws

By Lakhram Bhagirat

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown has indicated its intention to challenge the recent High Court ruling quashing the by-laws of the controversial parking meter project with Smart City Solutions.
Mayor Patricia Chase Green said the city’s legal team was in the process of giving notice of appeal to formally commence the proceedings.
Chase Green, in an interview with Guyana Times, said all the processes in legalising the by-laws of the parking meter contract with Smart City Solutions, were adhered to and she was confused by Justice Nareshwar Harnanan’s December 17 ruling.
Justice Harnanan ruled that the procedure used to bring into effect the by-laws was breached, resulting in them being invalid.
“What part of the process we failed in I am not quite certain, because we would have had extensive notices done at City Hall, at the National Library, at all of the Post Offices and at all of our markets .… I don’t know, but we are challenging it because as a Council, we have a right,” the Mayor said.
On January 23, 2017, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan signed the by-laws that were approved at the December 13, 2016 Statutory Meeting of the Council.
The M&CC had entered into a contract with Smart City Solutions Inc on May 13, 2016, for parking meters to be implemented in Georgetown.
Chase Green alluded to Article 28:01 of the District Councils and Municipalities Act, which she said makes provision for the municipality to formulate by-laws and for the Minister to sign off on them. Additionally, the Mayor stated that the work of the municipality would not be stalled by the ruling, adding that it was in the process of drafting new by-laws for littering.
The case was filed in February by the New Building Society and sought to challenge the legality of the city’s metered parking by-laws. NBS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anil Kishun, in an affidavit, noted that the approval granted was unlawful “in that it was done in breach of the Municipal and District Councils Act” and was, therefore, “null and void and of no legal effect”.
He outlined that the notice of intention to apply for the approval of the Minister of any by-law must be published in the Official Gazette not less than 14 days before the application is made. Kishun, in his affidavit, stated that this was not done and that the provisions of Section 305 of the Act were not followed and the Minister’s approval was granted unlawfully, unreasonably, without or in excess of jurisdiction and in breach of the statute.
The ruling comes after a new committee was formed to renegotiate the contract with SCS and was at a point of inking a new agreement. Under the proposal, persons would be entitled to pay $100 per hour and could park in any space as opposed to the initial system where they paid for space and time.
However, the Mayor informed that the work of the renegotiating committee would not be affected by the ruling and that she was anticipating the report following the consultation.
The new committee is being chaired by Councillor Akeem Peter and consists of Councillors Noelle Chow-Chee (Vice Chairperson); Oscar Clarke; Jameel Rasul; James Samuels; Heston Bostwick and Ivor Henry. The Mayor mandated that two members of the public also sit on the committee and Civil Engineer Owen Godfrey Edwards and Accountant Robin Hunte were selected.