Cabinet again denies Maha Sabha radio licence

The Maha Sabha has received a letter dated May 17, 2005, from the Minister of Public Information and Administration, Lenny Saith, stating that the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Cabinet has rejected the Maha Sabha’s application because it felt it needed additional information which had not been supplied. In immediate response to the letter, Secretary General of the Maha Sabha, Sat Maharaj, said that this showed the Government was in fact biased against the Maha Sabha and intent on continuing its discrimination against the Hindu community.

He also stated that the refusal was the best evidence of discrimination and expected it to assist the Maha Sabha’s case in the Privy Council. The Maha Sabha first won its case in the High Court in February 2004, which found that the State had discriminated against the Maha Sabha when it granted Louis Lee Sing’s Citadel Limited a radio licence in a matter of mere days even though the Maha Sabha had an approved application for radio licence pending since 1999. Then in January 2005, the Court of Appeal threw out an appeal by the State challenging the finding of discrimination.

Cabinet was ordered to reconsider the Maha Sabha’s application. The State subsequently reopened the appeal on the ground that Cabinet had no power to grant a radio licence because this was the sole function of the newly established Tele-communications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago. The Court of Appeal also rejected this appeal and again ordered Cabinet to consider the Maha Sabha’s application. Maharaj views this latest refusal as a particularly hurtful insult, given the closeness to Indian Arrival Day celebrations, and added that it demonstrated contempt for the Indian community.