Later, says Max

PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards has decided, “at this stage,” not to appoint the three-member tribunal to investigate whether Chief Justice Sat Sharma should be removed from office. While not bound by an injunction of the High Court on Wednesday, the President decided not to go ahead with the appointments out of an abundance of respect for the Judiciary. He did not appoint the tribunal, noting that Justice Humphrey Stollmeyer had ordered that the judicial review application filed by Sharma earlier this week be expeditiously determined in the public interest. On April 1, Prime Minister Patrick Manning made representation to the President under Section 137 (3) of the Constitution that the question of removing the Chief Justice from office ought to be investigated.

He advised that the names of the members of the tribunal would be forwarded in due course. Manning, by letter dated April 12, informed the President of the names of the chairman and members of the proposed tribunal. It comprised a retired Chief Justice of India, a British Law Lord who will retire in May 2006, a Jamaican Queen’s Counsel, who is now a judge in the Court of Appeal of Belize. A statement from President’s House yesterday acknowledged that “the President is bound to act in accordance with the Constitution.” On April 13, President Richards was advised that Stollmeyer granted the Chief Justice leave to apply for judicial review and ordered that all actions or proceedings consequential upon the implementation of the decision of the Prime Minister to make representation to the President be stayed until the hearing and determination of the matter.

“Given the intent of the order of the court, it appears inevitable that if the tribunal were to be appointed, its members would be joined as defendants and an order sought restraining the members of the tribunal from taking any steps in pursuance of their appointments,” the statement added. As a result, Richards decided not to appoint the tribunal “at this stage.” Sharma filed the judicial review application, naming Manning as the only defendant. Stollmeyer, sitting in the Port-of-Spain First Civil Court, gave Manning until April 27 to reply to Sharma’s affidavit.

The case was then adjourned to April 28. Contacted last night on the latest developments, the Chief Justice said he had no comment to make. The decision of the Prime Minister to make representation to the President followed the receipt of two statements from Attorney General John Jeremie and Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson relating to alleged conversations with the Chief Justice over the decision to charge prominent surgeon Prof Vijay Naraynsingh with the 1994 murder of his second wife Dr Chandra Naraynsingh.