Sharma: I would go

“I would go. I would demit office because if you have no confidence in me, there is no point in hanging on for the sake of it,” Sharma said.

“When you have this kind of tug-o-war and you have this kind of situation, it is going to be unworkable. I don’t know but that could not be good for the Judiciary or the country.

“I certainly would have resigned. If people don’t have confidence in me, that is to say, they have spoken and what is the point in holding on.” Sharma, who, in 2006, also faced controversy following moves to arrest him under the then Patrick Manning-led PNM government for allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice in the trial of Basdeo Panday for not declaring his $10 million London bank account to the Integrity Commission, also claimed the JLSC members were likely to resign.

A tribunal subsequently found that Sharma was not guilty of any wrongdoing in the matter and he went on to serve as CJ for two more years, until 2008, when Archie was appointed to the position.

STAIN ON JUDICIARY The controversy surrounding the Judiciary deepened on Thursday when close to 500 attorneys from throughout the country gathered in the Convocation Hall, Hall of Justice, Portof- Spain, to debate five resolutions in a special meeting convened by the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT). The association is led by Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes.

The resolutions, all of which pointed to a loss of confidence in Archie and the JLSC, dealt specifically with the Commission’s handling of the latest round of promotions to the High Court bench on April 12, in particular Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar’s elevation to the Supreme Court and her subsequent resignation, days later, after news came to light that she had some 53 part-heard cases pending in Portof- Spain Eighth Magistrates Court over which she presided.

There have since been mounting calls for Archie, who is head of the JLSC, to resign. This reached a head around 8 pm on Thursday when Mendes announced to reporters that some 285 attorneys voted for the no-confidence motion against Archie while 150 lawyers voted against it.

Archie, who left Trinidad and Tobago for Barbados on Friday, where he was due to address a law conference, hosted by the Canadian Government and Barbados Bar Association, avoided comment on the raging controversy, saying only that had no intention of resigning.

But yesterday, Sharma claimed that the JLSC members - Justice Roger Hamel-Smith, Justice Humphrey Stollmeyer and Maureen Manchouk - were likely to resign. “I have been led to believe that members of the Commission will resign. But the CJ, he seems firm in his decision not to resign,” he said. “I don’t know if that happens, whether it will in some way or in any way influence the Chief Justice (to resign).” Sharma, who served as CJ from 2002 to 2008, could not say what would be the fallout from Archie’s adamant stance to calls for his resignation.

LETTER SENT TO ARCHIE Law Association President Mendes yesterday told Sunday Newsday he had delivered a letter to the CJ on Friday informing him of the outcome of the meeting.

“That’s all I am mandated to do,” he said, declining comment on Archie’s statement that he would not resign.

“‘I think we will have to wait until the Chief Justice comes back (from Barbados) to see what happens then.” Senior Counsel Martin Daly, meanwhile, yesterday maintained that Archie should do the honourable thing and resign. He believes public pressure could cause the CJ to demit office.

Another Senior Counsel, Israel Khan, said Archie, the titular head of the Bar, should resign on moral grounds. “I am of the view that the Chief Justice, morally, should resign but legally there is not sufficient information or evidence which could constitute misbehaviour in public office,” he said.

“So, legally, there is no basis for him to resign.

In any event, I do not expect this particular Chief Justice to resign.

He will cling to power and status right to the end.” Khan stressed that a thorough investigation should be carried out into the Ayers-Caesar controversy.