ACTING Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards has said she would soon determine the applications filed by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive Member Zulficar Mustapha to quash the appointments made by Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan in six local authorities following the Local Government Elections here in March.Bulkan had appointed Mabaruma Mayor and chairs of five Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) following ties in those bodies at the Local Government Elections. Government had said that an offer was made to the Opposition PPP/C to give them the right to elect the senior posts in local authority areas based on the plurality of votes, but this offer was rejected by them.

The PPP subsequently filed for the orders in the High Court on the basis of their contention that the minister had acted contrary to, and in violation of, the Municipal and District Councils Act, Cap. 28:01, and
Justice Diana Insanally granted an interim order quashing the appointments.

The orders were filed by PPP/C Member of Parliament (MP) Attorney-at-law Anil Nandlall on behalf of fellow MP Zulficar Mustapha. Attorney General Basil Williams had in response noted that the court action filed by the PPP/C, quashing the decision by Bulkan to appoint Mabaruma’s Mayor and the five NDC chairs at Woodlands/Farm, Woodlands/Bel Air, Malgre Tout/ Meer-Zorgen, Gibraltar-Fyrish and Industry-Plaisance, was a case of misinterpretation of the law, and he had challenged the orders.

On Monday, the AG and Nandlall went head-to-head in the High Court before Acting Chief Justice Cummings-Edwards. After hearing the positions put by the Attorney General and PPP Member of Parliament, Justice Cummings-Edwards informed them that she had reserved her decision and they would accordingly receive notice when her decision would be publicised.

The Attorney General has nevertheless maintained that the Chief Justice (ag) must first determine whether the court has jurisdiction to proceed with the matter. He has argued that only through an election petition could such a matter be heard in the High Court, and he has emphasised that the High Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine questions in dispute from Local Government Elections.

The PPP had, however, not filed an election petition, but a prerogative writ.

The Attorney General also believes that the PPP further erred when they filed the applications through their Executive Member Mustapha. According to him, Mustapha had no “locus standi” or right to bring the actions in the court. “Because, under the legislation, only a person who is a registered voter or who is a candidate at elections in the specific local authority area, whether as a township or an NDC, only then could you have an applicant challenging or questioning the validity of anything done,” Minister Williams explained.

He is maintaining that the first duty of the Court is to ensure that it has jurisdiction before embarking on a hearing. “It would be a waste of judicial time to hear the entire case (only) to discover that in the first place you had no jurisdiction,” he posited.