On Thursday 13th May, 2010,  High Court Judge Justice Diane Insanally ruled against Jinnah Rahaman and Turhane Doerga, discharging a number of orders Rule Nisi which were obtained against the Guyana Rice Producers Association (GRPA). On the 30th April, 2009, the Applicants, Rahaman and Doerga, through their Attorney-at-Law, Mr. Saphier Hussain, filed a Notice of Motion in the High Court in which they sought a number of Orders seeking to challenge the elections of office bearers of the Guyana Rice Producers Association, a statutory body corporate, which were scheduled to take place on the 22nd May, 2009.
The Applicants, in their Affidavit, alleged that they were empowered by “thousands of rice farmers to represent their interest” and that the elections and the list of candidates were in breach of the Guyana Rice Producers Association Act and Regulation, unlawful and undemocratic.
Mr. Anil Nandlall and Mr. Manoj Narayan appeared for the Guyana Rice Producers Association.
Mr. Nandlall argued that the Applicants were not authorised under the provisions of the Guyana Rice Producers Association Act to file the proceedings which provide that to file such proceedings the Applicant must be a rice farmer as defined by the Act and that the Applicants in this case were not rice farmers or owners of rice lands, and as such, they were not qualified to launch the proceedings.
He further submitted that the Applicants, Rahaman and Doerga, were not authorised to act on behalf of any rice farmer; that the Applicants failed to establish that there was any breach of the regulations, procedures or laws related to the electoral process; that in fact and to the contrary the process leading up to the elections was transparent, widely participatory, democratic and in compliance with all the rules and regulations touching and concerning the electoral process; that the Notice of Motion filed was misconceived and incurably bad in law and that the challenge by the Applicants was completely baseless and without merit.
Justice Insanally upheld Mr. Nandlall’s submissions, discharged the orders which were previously granted, dismissed the Applicants’ case, and ordered them to pay costs in the sum of $50,000 to the Guyana Rice Producers Association.