Court: Judge failed to complain
RETIRED Justice of Appeal Zainool Hosein should have been given the opportunity to be heard by Cabinet before he was removed as chairman of the Environmental Commission. But because he chose not to complain or protest the decision to replace him, there was nothing the court could do. On Wednesday, Madame Justice Mira Dean-Armorer, presiding in the Port-of-Spain High Court, dismissed the judicial review application brought by the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association, which challenged the decision of Cabinet not to re-appoint Justice Hosein to the Environmental Commission. The judge found that the association had no right to interfere independently of Justice Hosein. Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC appeared for the association, while Christopher Hamel-Smith represented Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the Cabinet. The association also sought judicial review of the decision of Cabinet to appoint Sandra Paul as the chairman and Indira Maharaj-Ramrekersingh as the deputy chairman of the commission. Justice Hosein was appointed chairman of the commission on October 30, 2000, for a three-year period. After Manning assumed office in 2001, Justice Hosein wrote to the Prime Minister, pointing out the anomalous situation created by placing the commission under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment. He made the second observation concerning the independence of the commission to Minister Rene Dumas when the minister visited in November 2002. He pointed out the importance of observing and respecting the independence of the Judiciary and judicial tribunals. When the three-year tenure of the commission expired in 2003, Hosein wrote to the minister indicating that the members were willing to serve again. The association claimed that no posts were advertised, no independent tribunal was commissioned by Cabinet, and Hosein was given no opportunity to make representations as to why he should be re-appointed. Hosein, according to the association, received no notification that any other person was being considered for appointment of chairman. In January 2004, the President appointed Sandra Paul as chairman of the commission. Dumas said he recommended Paul to Cabinet to be the new chairman. He said she had the necessary qualifications and experience to serve at this level — being a magistrate and a member of the Industrial Court. Dumas said he took into account the fact that Hosein was 71 years at the time and that environmental law was developing. In her 68-page ruling, Justice Dean-Armorer dismissed the submission that the Cabinet acted in bad faith.
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"Court: Judge failed to complain"