Attorney General Anil Nandlall yesterday tendered the report of the Constitu-tional Reform Commission to support his claim that there ought to be proportionality in the composition of the National Assembly’s Com-mittee of Selection.
The hearing on the constitutional motion, filed by Nandlall to contest the numerical make-up of the Commit-tee of Selection and other parliamentary committees, continued before acting Chief Justice Ian Chang and the AG spoke extensively on the issue of proportionality.
Following the conclusion of the hearing, Nandlall, in a brief comment to this newspaper, explained that in the report, which he had tendered, the Commission had undertaken a mandate to reform the constitution. He said among the provisions reviewed were the provisions dealing with the electoral system. “Those are articles 60 and 160 and they were amended. The report cites as the underlying principle for the amendment, the need to ensure that there is greater representation in the Parliament and the principle that aligns such a representation was the principle of proportionality,” he said.
APNU leader David Granger and AFC leader Raphael Trotman are both named as the respondents in the court documents. Attorney Basil Williams, who is one of the lawyers representing Granger, will make his submissions when the case continues on Thursday.
Nandlall is arguing that representation in key parliamentary committees must be based on the proportionality determined by seats that parties won at last November’s election.
He is seeking a declaration that the composition of the Committee of Selection done by elections–-PPP, four; APNU, four and AFC, one–-is a violation of the “principle of proportionality as contemplated by Articles 60 and 160 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Elections Law (Amendment) Act No 15 of 2000 and accordingly, unconstitutional, unlawful, null, void and of no effect.”
He is also asking the court for orders setting aside, revoking, cancelling or annulling the composition of the committee on the grounds that it was in breach of the Constitution and a breach of the provisions of the law and further directing the respondents and their servants/ agents to constitute all standing committees and sectoral committees and every other committee of the 10th Parliament, whose composition are not expressly set out in the Constitution, with due regard to and in compliance with the principle of proportionality.
