Under pressure: AG activates Judicial Review Act

…Nandlall lambasts Govt for wasted money, judicial resources

After court battles and much criticism, Government has finally brought the Judicial Review Act – which will allow members of the public to seek redress for court judgements and decisions by public officials – into force.
An order signed by Attorney General Basil Williams was gazetted earlier this week, revoking a previous January 2019 commencement order. According to the new order, the Act took effect from July 31, 2018.
Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George had ordered the AG to enforce the Judicial Review Act by July 31, 2018. At the time, she was ruling on a legal action brought against the State by former Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
Nandlall subsequently approached the courts to file contempt proceedings against his successor. The former AG had contended that William’s delay to bring the Act into force was in violation of the Chief Justice’s ruling.
Commenting on his predecessor finally bringing the Act into force, Nandlall noted that this will only be a mitigating factor as the contempt of court has already been committed due to the delay.
According to Nandlall, it is up to the High Court to determine how it will treat the contempt proceedings. That being said, he lambasted the Government for allowing time, millions of taxpayers’ dollars and precious judicial resources to be wasted in a futile legal battle.
“There is absolutely no justification for the Attorney General to take so long to do the right thing.
I was forced to write a letter, file legal proceedings which the AG defended rather than concede; when the CJ ruled rather than comply with the ruling, he appealed. Then filed an application to stay the execution of the CJ ruling and when that was thrown out, he issued an order to (activate) the Act as of January 1, 2019. As a result, contempt of court proceedings had to be filed.”
“All of this could have been easily avoided. Instead, an immeasurable amount of energy, invaluable judicial resources, time and millions of scarce taxpayers’ dollars had to be spent in getting him to do the right thing. But they (Government) expect the teachers to accept that they do not have money to meet their demands.”
The National Assembly had passed the Bill, and it was assented to by then President Bharrat Jagdeo, in 2010.
The Judicial Review Act provides an avenue for relief if anyone considers a decision made by a public official, against them, is unfair. That relief includes the ability to seek to have decisions struck down and compensation paid.