‘LGC CoI appeal was not struck out’
LGC Chairman, Mortimer Mingo
LGC Chairman, Mortimer Mingo

– rather it was moved to the Appeal Court, says Mingo

CHAIRMAN of the Local Government Commission (LGC), Mortimer Mingo, said the commission’s appeal against the High Court ruling of the City Hall Commission of Inquiry (CoI) being unlawful was not “struck out” by the Demerara Full Court but rather was withdrawn and filed with the Court of Appeal.

The appeal hearing came up before Full Court Judges Justices Naresh Harnanan and Franklyn Holder at the Demerara High Court last Monday.

“It was not struck out. The appeal was filed at the Full Court and we withdraw the matter from the Full Court and it’s now in the Appeal Court. The judges granted the withdrawal from the Full Court, it was not struck out,” Mingo informed.

The LGC is being represented by Attorney, Everton Singh-Lammy.
Mingo explained that as a matter of technicality, the Full Court was not the appropriate court to hear the matter.

“Because it’s a constitutional case, the rules are that a constitutional review must only be done by the Appeal Court and not the Full Court,” Mingo related.

Former Town Clerk, Royston King

The LGC is a constitutional body established under the Local Government Act 2002.
The appeal is an important one for the commission as it challenges the entire contents, including recommendations contained in a report emanating from the CoI into the operations of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (MCC).

The CoI concluded on November 2018. It was presided over by chairman, and sole commissioner, Justice (ret’d) Cecil Kennard.

In September 2019, the CoI was deemed unlawful and void by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the Demerara High Court, in a challenge brought against it by former Town Clerk, Royston King, whose employment was terminated in January 2019 as a result of recommendations in the resulting report.

Based on CoI recommendations, King was charged with gross misconduct, abuse of office, recklessness, dishonesty, conspiracy, and misappropriation of funds at the municipality.
In February 2019, King moved to the High Court to challenge his dismissal and subsequently in September, Justice Morris-Ramlall said the LGC unlawfully delegated its investigatory powers to the CoI, which was not part of the LGC or attached to it.

Additionally, the LGC disinvested itself from the CoI when it transferred the investigation and unlawfully delegated its powers. By doing this, the LCG committed an error of law and the decisions made by the CoI must be squashed.

In November 2019, the LGC filed the appeal against Justice Morris-Ramlall’s ruling, listing five grounds of appeal.

One of the grounds stated that the learned trial judge committed errors of law when she found that the LGC did not have the authority to delegate its powers to a CoI.

Another ground in the document stated that Justice Morris-Ramlall erred in law and fact in finding that the LGC had delegated its authority to the CoI to enquire into allegations against King. The LGC is calling for the appeal to be allowed, and the decision of Justice Morris-Ramlall, dated September 13, 2019, to be quashed.

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