State appeals against ruling on Judicial Review Amendment Bill

Gobin delivered her judgment on Monday and the Attorney General filed an appeal on Tuesday, raising five grounds of contention. Government’s intention was to introduce the Judicial Review (Amendment) Bill, 2005, which, if and when it becomes law, would restrict the present process of seeking judicial review against the action and decisions of many Government officials.

After Government’s announcement of introducing the Bill in Parliament, the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Rights Association and Rajh Basdeo filed a motion challenging the constitutionality of the proposed legislation.

Among the many points raised by Basdeo’s attorneys was that the Bill had threatened to infringe their rights to the protection of the law by limiting their rights to access the courts to apply for judicial review as public interest litigants. Gobin said that the proposed bill amounted to a contravention or threatened to contravene public-spirited organisations’ fundamental right to the protection of the law guaranteed in the Constitution.

The Court of Appeal will now have to determine if the appeal is one of urgency, and set a date for hearing accordingly.