JLSC TO HAVE POWERS AS INTEGRITY COMMISSION?

Although the Integrity Commission will no longer have the power to monitor the personal dealings of judges and magistrates, because this would have represented a tacit violation of the principle of the Separation of Powers, this authority will now be vested in the Judicial and Legal Service Commission. This means that the personal dealings of these officers will, nonetheless, be open to scrutiny. An earlier announcement by Attorney General, John Jeremie, that they would have been exempted from the reporting requirements of the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000, until his explanation of new steps, had created understandable concern.

This did not mean that it was felt that a question mark hung over judges or magistrates, either individually or collectively, but inasmuch as the judicial arm constituted one of the powers  of Government it was felt that there should be a body to which members were accountable, and that such a body should be within the Constitution.  The necessary framework is still being worked out and the Opposition was asked recently in Parliament to shift judges from under the Integrity Commission. Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliamentary system is patterned after that of the Westminster system, and the doctrine of the Separation of Powers has been for several centuries a tacit part of the United Kingdom Parliamentary experience. 

The legislation which at first allowed for officers of the judicial arm to come under the Integrity Commission had, however unintentionally, in effect placed judges and magistrates under a creature of Government. Taken to the extreme this meant that the Integrity Act had, admittedly unwittingly, begun the erosion of the fabric of the doctrine of the Separation of Powers. Had the correction not been made and the judiciary not removed from the provisions of the Act the door could, or perhaps would have been opened to further erosion and the risk of judges and magistrates coming within the control of the Executive. Under Section 104 of the 1976 Republican Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, all judges “other than the Chief Justice, shall be appointed by the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.”

The President, however, is required under Section 103, to appoint the Chief Justice, “after consultation with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.” Additionally, the Constitution is clear that where the question of removing a judge (described as an officer) from office the “President shall appoint a Tribunal which shall consist of a chairman and not less than two other members all of which shall be selected by the President acting in accordance with the advice of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.” It follows that placing the judiciary under the Integrity Act would have required a specific change to the Constitution. This is not to say that the personal dealings of Judges and Magistrates, if there is reason to believe this is required, should not be investigated.  We insist that there should be room allowing for this, but it must be done within the meaning and spirit of the Constitution.  The move to have this done by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission strikes as being within the Constitution.