High Court Judge Navindra Singh has declared that members of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union’s (GPSCCU) were entitled to demand a special general meeting and refuted arguments of the union’s management committee that that request constituted a dispute.
Against this background, the Court has ordered the Committee of Management to schedule a new general meeting to be held no later than October 24th, 2022.
Recognizing that Trevor Benn and Patrick Mentore were the duly elected Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Union respectively, the Judge went on to find that the notice informing of the demand for the meeting which had been set for June 25th of this year, had been lawfully issued.
In his judgment delivered yesterday morning, Justice Singh noted that Regulation 16 of the Cooperative Society Act permits the applicants as members of the Cooperative Society to demand a special general meeting.
He went on to declare, among other things, that the Applicants had satisfied the requirement of the number needed to present a demand, being in excess of 25 members; and found further that the management committee (the Respondents) were being disingenuous by stating that the Applicants had not satisfied that requirement.
The case involved three members of the GPSCCU who had petitioned the Court for declarations that Benn and Mentore were the credit union’s duly elected Chairman and Vice-Chairman, and that a Special General Meeting of Members which had been scheduled for June 25th, 2022; be allowed.
After seeking to remove Benn, the management committee itself came under pressure when over 375 members moved for the removal of the entire body and the announcement of new elections within 14 days. That number had increased to nearly 2,000.
The committee and its members have been at loggerheads over a No-Confidence Motion the committee said it brought against Benn.
By way of a fixed date application (FDA), union members Mehalai McAlmont, Keith Marks and Natasha Durant-Clements (the Applicants) through their attorney Roysdale Forde SC, moved to the Court seeking to have Benn, Mentore and other “duly” elected members of the management committee, recognized.
Their challenge came on the heels of one faction of the union advertising in the press objecting to the Special General Meeting of Members which was being called for June 25th by what was being describ-ed a rival faction headed by Benn.
With thousands of members and in control of a large amount of money, the credit union had become embroiled in a bitter power struggle.
Manifestations of the infighting were seen with the replacement by the management committee of Mentore, with one of their own.
Mentore had complied with a request from members and given notice that the Special General Meet-ing, which would include electing a new Committee, would be held on June 25th.
It was under Mentore, who was then acting as Chair, that members moved to have a Special General Meeting called on June 25th so that they could remove the entire committee, having stated that they had no confidence in it.
“Pursuant to Regulation 16 of the Co-operatives Societies Regulations, Cap 88:01, I hereby give notice that a special General Meeting… will be held on Saturday June 25th 2022 at 10:00hrs …,” that notice stated, informing that motions to be brought before the meeting must be submitted to the Secretary of the Committee, two days before.
The actions of the committee triggered the ire of members, who voiced their disquiet, accusing the committee of being dictatorial.
In his ruling, Forde said that Justice Singh rejected the Respondents’ argument that the issue of a special general meeting constituted a dispute and was therefore caught by Section 49 of the Act.
Forde said the Judge in fact stated that Section 49 did not cover the issue of a special general meeting, and that the Respondents could not be allowed to subvert the legislation.
“The Respondents were not allowed to stop short and appoint a new Chair-man and then say that the Applicants must start the process all over again,” Counsel noted.
Forde said the Judge declared that a Special General Meeting of a Registered Society can be convened at any time by the members of the Society, pursuant to Regulation 16 of the Society’s Regulations.
He said the Court also declared that where 25 or more members of a Registered Society which consists of more than 100 members demand a Special General Meeting, it shall be the duty of the Chair-man of the Committee of Management to convene such a meeting giving eight days’ notice, pursuant to Regulation 16.
Among declarations also made is that Mentore, in his capacity as the Vice-Chairman, performing the duties of Chairman can convene the meeting, pursuant to Regulation 16 and that his notice previously so indicating was legal.
The Court has ordered the Committee of Manage-ment to issue a notice within the next 10 days fixing scheduling a new Special General Meeting to be held no later than October 24th, 2022.
Further, Rajdai Jaganauth, Leslyn Noble, Ruth Howard and Karen Vansluytman of the management committee have been ordered to pay court costs in the sum of one million dollars no later than October 22nd, 2022.
The Respondents were represented by attorneys Noble, Paula Nicholson and Adrian Smith.
