Justice Jainarayan Singh Jr has quashed a decision by the Minister of Public Works and the aviation authority to ground an Air Services Limited (ASL) Cessna and has ordered them to show cause why the order should not be made absolute.
ASL had moved to the court to challenge the decision of the two to ground the Cessna C-208 B Grand Caravan after a dispute over examination and safety tests.
In an affidavit of support of the application for writs of certiorari and prohibition entered by attorney Anil Nandlall, ASL Safety Manager Fazel Khan said that the aircraft arrived here on March 7, 2007 and the company had applied for an Air Operator’s Certificate on April 4, 2007. Verbal approval was given for operations pending the processing of the application. Khan said ASL began operations and continued until one week ago.
By that time, an impasse had been reached over the Air Operator’s Certificate and the company’s rejection of Flight Operations Inspector Kame Prashad as the certifying official.
As a result, at a meeting on February 6, 2008 the aircraft was grounded by the Minister of Public Works and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). Khan said that the grounding was costing the company 1.5M per day and that ASL was willing to be subject to examination and safety tests by any competent personnel.
The company sought an order quashing the decision of the Minister and the GCAA to ground the Cessna, another order restraining the Minister and the GCAA from giving effect to the decision to ground the Cessna and another restraining them from permitting Prashad from acting as Flight Operations Inspector and that the orders be made absolute.
The matter comes up again on February 18.
