Court reopens Maha Sabha radio licence appeal

The Court of Appeal reopened the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha radio licence appeal yesterday, and heard further arguments by the State lawyer, Russel Martineau SC. Martineau submitted that the Telecommunications Authority was now responsible for, among other things, processing applications for radio licences and that the court’s order should be directed to this board  and not Cabinet, as was previously ordered. The court in its earlier judgment had ordered Cabinet to consider the Maha Sabha’s application for a radio licence.

Martineau also asked the court, comprising Justices Roger Hamel-Smith, Margot Warner and Alan Mendonca, to rescind its order that the State pay Maha Sabha’s legal costs in the matter. On January 27, 2005, the Court of Appeal ruled that Cabinet had treated the Maha Sabha unfairly by not considering its application filed in 1999, while another application by Citadel was granted in March 2002, a few months after it had applied. The court in its ruling had given Cabinet, which was the then body dealing with applications for licences, 28 days to consider the Maha Sabha’s application.

Attorney for the Maha Sabha, Dr Fenton Ramsahoye SC, instructed by Anand Ramlogan, resisted Martineau’s applications. The court will give its decision on a date to be fixed. In the meantime, the Maha Sabha has petitioned the Privy Council, asking the Law Lords to change the Court of Appeal ruling and order Cabinet to grant the licence instead of just considering the application. The Maha Sabha is also asking the Privy Council to say that the local court should have gone further and ruled that the State violated the Maha Sabha’s right to freedom of religion in failing to grant the licence.