Manning sued again over appointment

THE Assistant Commissioner of Valuations, Ganga Persad-Kissoon, has filed for judicial review against Prime Minister Patrick Manning for intervening in the appointment of the Commissioner of State Lands, in which a Land Surveyor II got the post ahead of him (Persad-Kissoon). On Friday, Justice Rajendra Narine granted Persad-Kissoon leave to seek judicial review of the Prime Minister’s intervention in the appointment. In the application filed in the San Fernando High Court on Friday, Persad-Kissoon, of Pleasant Park in Cunupia, is contending that Stephanie Elder-Alexander, who is junior to him in the Valuations Department of the Ministry of Finance, was given the post after Manning informed the Public Service Commission (PSC) that he did not approve of him as Commissioner of State Lands.

Persad-Kissoon has been Assistant Commissioner of Valuations since 1998, and on July 16, 2001, he was interviewed by the PSC for the position of Commissioner of State Lands. The PSC had proposed that he be elevated to the post, but sought Manning’s advice. In his application filed by attorney Anand Ramlogan, Persad-Kissoon stated that on December 20, 2004, he was informed that Elder-Alexander was given the job. “Ms Elder-Alexander was at all material times my junior, occupying the office of Land Surveyor II,” Persad-Kissoon stated in his application. On December 28, he wrote to the PSC to enquire why he was bypassed.

Persad-Kissoon stated that the Director of Personnel Administration informed him on January 28, 2005: “The PSC wishes to inform you that the Honourable Prime Minister was consulted in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) to (5) of Section 121 of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. However, the Prime Minister did not support the proposal of the commission for your promotion.” In legal documents filed in the Sub-Registry in San Fernando, Ramlogan is contending that Manning’s objection to Persad-Kissoon’s promotion was illegal, unfair and unreasonable.