Justice Brassington Reynolds “out of an abundance of caution” yesterday decided to indefinitely adjourn the challenge to the legality of the appointment of acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba until the outcome of two appeals filed after an earlier ruling by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang.
The courtroom was silent as Justice Reynolds made his short statement and there was obvious disappointment written on the faces of the few who gathered, including City Hall spokesperson Royston King, who initiated the proceedings and Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, as it was believed that the court would have issued a decision on the matter one way or the other. However, Justice Reynolds said having read the affidavit filed by King and listening to the submissions made by both sides—Nigel Hughes for King and Roysdale Forde for Sooba—he decided to put down the matter sine die (indefinitely) until the outcome of the two appeals. He said he did so in the “interest of justice,” while adding that having regard to the public interest in the issue both parties concerned and other stakeholders should make every effort to have the appeals heard as soon as possible.
The current case was filed in May and was initially heard by Justice Diana Insanally, who had ordered that the government’s Town Clerk appointee Sooba show cause why she should not be removed from the post.
That order is based on an application by King for a rule nisi to be issued to Sooba and Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker to show cause why information in the nature of a quo warranto (a writ formerly requiring a person to show by what authority he/she exercises a public office) should not be exhibited against Sooba.
It was believed that this latest litigation could have led to the formal removal of Sooba in line with a ruling that was made by Justice Chang.
It was the latest in a flurry of litigation embarked upon by King, Sooba and the State over who should be Town Clerk.
On April 10, Justice Chang had quashed Sooba’s appointment as Town Clerk, saying that former Local Government Minister Ganga Persaud did not have the lawful authority to appoint anyone. Justice Chang had also said that King’s suit did not challenge Sooba’s authority as the appointee of the minister to the office but rather the decision of the minister in appointing her to that office. “It is not her authority which is challenged in these proceedings… rather it is the authority of the minister,” he said.
Further, Justice Chang had said that his decision did not prevent Sooba from continuing to perform the functions of Town Clerk as the “de facto” Town Clerk since a direct challenge was needed to bring her de facto tenure to an end.
It was this direct challenge that King has now embarked upon. In the legal documents that were seen by this newspaper, King made the application to determine by what authority Sooba claims to exercise the functions of Town Clerk for the Georgetown Municipality “on the basis that the Minister of Local Government was possessed of no authority to appoint her to act in the position of Town Clerk….”
The Chief Justice had also said that Persaud’s decision to appoint Sooba as the Town Clerk was “ultra vires,” since that responsibility was vested in the Local Government Service Commission, although it has never been set up.
King, in his affidavit, had said that it had been one month since the decision and the Local Government Minister “failed and or refused to appoint any members to the Local Government Commission” and that he had since been advised that Sooba’s appointment is flawed and must be vacated. Subsequent to King filing the writ, Sooba also filed an application in the High Court and secured eight temporary orders to suspend City Hall’s decision to appoint King as Town Clerk. Following Justice Chang’s ruling, Sooba had challenged the matter in the Appeal Court and had first sought for it to be stayed but this was not recognised by the court. That challenge, however, is still pending and King had also challenged certain aspects of the ruling, which is also pending in the Appeal Court.
Some at City Hall have expressed grave disappointment over this latest decision by Justice Reynolds, noting that it is not clear when the two appeals would be concluded and in the meantime Sooba continues to act as Town Clerk. The government had confirmed her appointment but later had to back track on the decision following Justice Chang’s ruling. The Mayor & City Council by way of majority votes had taken the decision to oust Sooba and appoint King but this was short-lived after the decision was challenged by Sooba and later quashed by Justice Chang.
Since the appointment of Sooba—the least qualified of those who applied—she has had an acrimonious relationship with the Mayor and City Council.
