Plaintiff fears being ejected forcefully

Red House lease challenge

…requests Conservatory Order

The legal challenge against the revocation of the Red House lease continued before acting Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, at the High Court on Monday, when Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall, representing the Cheddi Jagan Research Inc against the Attorney General and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, petitioned the court to grant a Conservatory Order to prevent the State from evicting the occupants, pending the outcome of legal proceedings.
In a meticulously detailed submission, the former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs noted that if the Conservatory Order is not granted, the applicant would suffer “irreparable harm”.
He suggested that in the end the trial may be a “futile exercise”, and the court not granting the order may result in the CJRI, current occupants of the premises, being forced out of the premises.
“If the Conservatory Order is not granted, there is sufficient evidence to persuade this court that the applicant will be ejected forcefully, and will therefore suffer irreparable harm and damage; and in those circumstances, the trial will certainly be an exercise in futility. It is only the grant of a Conservatory Order which can ensure that such a miscarriage of justice does not take place,” an excerpt from the court document stated.
Nandlall reasoned that if the court is not minded to grant the Conservatory Order, then, at minimum, Attorney-General Basil Williams should be “made to continue until the hearing and determination of the action, in order to preserve the status quo”.
An argument has been tendered by Attorney General Basil Williams to the effect that the lease was not executed in accordance with Section 13 of the Deeds Registry Act. Nandlall has, however, reasoned that a leasehold interest is “property” in law. “I do not think that this Honourable Court needs an authority to support that proposition. Article 142 protects that property from unlawful deprivation,” the former AG stressed.
Nandall’s submission cited Article 153 of the Constitution, contending that it allows the applicant to come to this court for protection. He further noted that it is not the function of the court, at this stage, to question the validity of the Red House lease.
“The Attorney General is free to file separate proceedings to do so. Prima facie, the lease is valid. In this matter, we are merely at interlocutory proceedings (in regard to) conservatory orders. The merits of the matter are not before the court. No pleadings are before the court from either party. How can the court, at this embryonic stage of the proceedings, address the validity of the lease? I submit that it would be premature and wrong to do so,” Nandlall stressed. His submission cited several regional and international cases to affirm his position.
However, the State, led by Judy Stuart-Adonis, Senior Legal Advisor in the AG’s Chambers, opined that Nandlall’s submissions came in too late. As such, the State could not delve into its legal arguments, which seek to solidify its contention that the lease is invalid.
The matter returns to the Chief Justice on July 25, as the State has been given time to respond to Nandlall’s submissions.

Recap
Earlier this year, AG Williams had expressed an opinion that the Red House lease was invalid and could not be pleaded in any court of justice. He had argued that the case should have been thrown out because the applicants had failed to make full and frank disclosures before the court.
But Nandlall, in response, had noted that the Attorney General’s arguments were premature at that stage; and he had also accused the AG of pressuring the Chief Justice by signifying on several occasions that the President has a special interest in the Red House proceedings.
Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, then acting Chief Justice, had said that while the President is immune from the proceedings, his actions are not. This had clarified the reiterated contention that the President’s actions could not be prosecuted.
President David Granger had, last year, given the occupants of the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre 48 hours to vacate the premises, a directive which Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has described as “unconscionable and vindictive”.