High Court temporarily blocks King from Town Clerkship; Mayor ordered to show cause for actions
- Wednesday, 14 May 2014 17:43
Acting Town Clerk, Carol Ryan-Sooba on Wednesday secured several orders against City Mayor Hamilton Green and Royston King, temporarily blocking him from preventing her from performing the duties as the most senior municipal administrator of the Georgetown Municipality.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall said Chief Justice, Ian Chang granted eight orders that effectively puts on hold the removal of Sooba as Acting Town Clerk and swearing in Royston King.
“In effect, they have put on hold all charade and masquerade that are going on at the City Hall,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. Nandlall explained that in the interim, the Chief Justice’s previous judgment that she is to perform the functions of Town Clerk de facto prevails in essence.
The matter has been adjourned to May 22 at 1:30 PM before the Chief Justice.
Among the temporary orders is one restraining or prohibiting Royston King “from usurping the Office of Town Clerk of the City of Georgetown” “and or from entering upon the said Office and or discharging or further discharging any of the powers, functions and duties of the aforesaid Office of Town Clerk “without lawful authority whatsoever, appointment and or in furtherance of the elections and or appointment” by Green.
The Chief Justice ordered the Mayor to show cause on the ground and reason to swear King into the Office of Town Clerk is “unlawful, ultra vires, irrational, unreasonable, wholly in excess of jurisdiction, unreasonable, null, void and of no legal effect”.
Green, a former Prime Minister of Guyana up to 1992, also has to explain the rationale for deciding in a letter dated May 7,2014 that Sooba should immediately cease to perform the functions of Town Clerk.
The Mayor is also being asked to show the Court why he should not be prohibited or prevented from acting on the decision of the Extra Ordinary Statutory Meeting held on the 8th day of May, 2014, or any other decision whatsoever and whenever to send Sooba on Administrative Leave and that she should with immediate effect no longer perform the functions of Town Clerk,
The Court has also asked the Mayor and Councilors to show why they should not be prohibited and or prevented from the decision taken at an Extra Ordinary Statutory Meeting held on the 8th day of May, 2014, or any other decision whatsoever and whenever to appoint and install King as the Officer to perform the duties of Town Clerk.
This latest Court action stems from a tussle on Monday between King and Sooba over who is the duly appointed Town Clerk. Using a section of a previous High Court ruling to his advantage that it is a Local Government Commission rather than the Local Government Minister who is empowered to appoint a Town Clerk, Green and the Councilors last week at an extraordinary council meeting appointed King until the commission is appointed by the National Assembly.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall said Chief Justice, Ian Chang granted eight orders that effectively puts on hold the removal of Sooba as Acting Town Clerk and swearing in Royston King.
“In effect, they have put on hold all charade and masquerade that are going on at the City Hall,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. Nandlall explained that in the interim, the Chief Justice’s previous judgment that she is to perform the functions of Town Clerk de facto prevails in essence.
The matter has been adjourned to May 22 at 1:30 PM before the Chief Justice.
Among the temporary orders is one restraining or prohibiting Royston King “from usurping the Office of Town Clerk of the City of Georgetown” “and or from entering upon the said Office and or discharging or further discharging any of the powers, functions and duties of the aforesaid Office of Town Clerk “without lawful authority whatsoever, appointment and or in furtherance of the elections and or appointment” by Green.
The Chief Justice ordered the Mayor to show cause on the ground and reason to swear King into the Office of Town Clerk is “unlawful, ultra vires, irrational, unreasonable, wholly in excess of jurisdiction, unreasonable, null, void and of no legal effect”.
Green, a former Prime Minister of Guyana up to 1992, also has to explain the rationale for deciding in a letter dated May 7,2014 that Sooba should immediately cease to perform the functions of Town Clerk.
The Mayor is also being asked to show the Court why he should not be prohibited or prevented from acting on the decision of the Extra Ordinary Statutory Meeting held on the 8th day of May, 2014, or any other decision whatsoever and whenever to send Sooba on Administrative Leave and that she should with immediate effect no longer perform the functions of Town Clerk,
The Court has also asked the Mayor and Councilors to show why they should not be prohibited and or prevented from the decision taken at an Extra Ordinary Statutory Meeting held on the 8th day of May, 2014, or any other decision whatsoever and whenever to appoint and install King as the Officer to perform the duties of Town Clerk.
This latest Court action stems from a tussle on Monday between King and Sooba over who is the duly appointed Town Clerk. Using a section of a previous High Court ruling to his advantage that it is a Local Government Commission rather than the Local Government Minister who is empowered to appoint a Town Clerk, Green and the Councilors last week at an extraordinary council meeting appointed King until the commission is appointed by the National Assembly.