JUSTICES James Bovell-Drakes and Rishi Persaud yesterday ruled that the Full Court has no jurisdiction to hear an appeal made by Leader of the Opposition, Mr David Granger.Granger had advanced the action after Acting Chief Justice, Mr Ian Chang had decided, on June 19, 2013, to strike him and Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh from the 2012 Budget cut court case.
In an invited comment, Attorney General, Nandlall noted that the decision did not come as a surprise. He said, “I expected it to go this way, and I advanced three arguments essentially, and all three were unassailable: one, that the court had no jurisdiction; second, the immunity of Members of Parliament cannot be waived by any one member, as it is for the protection of Parliamentarians as a collective; and third, no appeal lies, because the Leader of the Opposition was not an aggrieved party, so in essence he won his case.
“…the Full Court of the High Court has no jurisdiction, has no deal with an order or a decision of a High Court judge, which is final,” the AG said.
He explained that the ruling of the Chief Justice was a final pronouncement on participation by the Leader of the Opposition and Dr. Ashni Singh in the case. “An appeal against such a ruling must be filed in the Court of Appeal, in accordance with the High Court rules and the Court of Appeal Act; and that was the submission I made initially, which was upheld this morning,” Nandlall said.
The ongoing budget cut case is related to the slashing of the 2012 National Budget by the Parliamentary Opposition, leading to the Government taking legal action on the basis that the Opposition has no power to cut the budget, but to either approve or disapprove of it.

(By Vanessa Narine)