Dear Editor,
In June 2012 I had several court matters involving the provisions of the Public Health Ordinance Chapter 145. When one of these matters was called involving [name given] ‒ building without permission ‒ Mr Sahadat, Attorney-at-law made a submission to the Magistrate stating that Section 13 of PHO Chapter 145 defined what is (1) an urban sanitary district; (2) a village district; (3) a country district; and (4) a rural district. As such Corriverton cannot come within the provisions of the PHO 145 since only the city of Georgetown and the town of New Amsterdam are considered urban sanitary districts. This law was drafted in 1953.
I pointed out to the learned Magistrate that under the Municipal and District Councils Act 28:01 of 1977 under ‘Miscellaneous powers of councils’ 301, it is stated, “The City Council and the Town Council shall each have power to do all or any of the things.” These things include most, if not all, of the provisions of the PHO 145. Further, under the said Act, the Corriverton Town (Constitution) Order, gives the Town of Corriverton the authority to appoint any person so qualified to carry out the provisions of PHO 145 on behalf of the council.
At this point the Magistrate instructed me to seek clarification on this matter. In August 2012, I contacted the Interim Management Committee of Corriverton who claimed they contacted their Attorney-at-law, Mr A Anamayah. The Magistrate warned me on several occasions to seek clarification.
To date nothing has been done to correct the situation, although the Town Clerk informed me that he had contacted the Local Government Ministry.
My latest information when I returned to the country after a holiday in October 2012 was that all the matters had been dismissed. I find it strange that the Magistrate allowed me to prosecute in the building matter.
I shall be very grateful if any relevant authority ‒ the Attorney General, the Chief Justice or the Director of Public Prosecutions can clarify this matter through the print media for the benefit of the residents in the town mentioned.
Yours faithfully,
R Sukhu
Senior Environmental
Health Officer
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the Attorney General for any comment he might wish to make.
