Noting that Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has no authority to direct Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud to proceed on “special leave,” former attorney general Anil Nandlall said yesterday that what has occurred is a clear violation of the Constitution.
Nandlall said too that based on the wording of the letter to Persaud containing the directive, he has been suspended from office.
“What we are witnessing here… is a complete disregard for the constitutional process which must be undertaken as prescribed by the Constitution, if a Commissioner of Police is to be lawfully suspended. The entire regime of security of tenure that the Constitution has accorded to the Office of the Commissioner of Police is being ignored, eroded and trampled upon by the political diktat of a minister, who seems to be taking instructions from a phantom,” Nandlall said, while calling the situation the latest example of government’s disregard for the Constitution.