High Court Judge Brassington Reynolds has ruled against having Khalid Gobin released from institutional quarantine on the grounds that the Public Health Ministry is in adherence to established guidelines by the World Health Organisation in wake of the rapid spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Gobin – an overseas-based Guyanese student, who was taken into institutional quarantine upon his arrival in Guyana from Barbados, had asked the High Court for an order of Habeas Corpus ad Subjiciendum on the grounds that he was unlawfully held by the State. In the proceedings brought against the Attorney General, the Chief Medical Officer, and the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Khalid Gobin contended that the State has breached his fundamental right to free movement and liberty, and subjected him to inhumane conditions.
However, Justice Reynolds on Thursday ruled against the order. “The court being satisfied that the terms and conditions under which the applicant is currently institutionally quarantined fall well within the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization for such isolation, rules that the threshold of sufficiency (no prima facie case) has not been achieved by the applicant so as to warrant the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus,” Justice Reynolds said as he handed down his ruling.
In his analysis of the law in the context of the case brought by Gobin, the High Court pointed to the fact that President David Granger invoked the Constitution of Guyana and the provisions of the Public Health Ordinance in a general quest to curb the spread of COVID-19.
These directions, the Judge notes, apply to everyone within Guyana.
“It is worthy to note that no matter how careful and diligent the applicant undertakes to conduct himself, nor how extensive the measures he may propose to guarantee same, as outlined in his supplementary affidavit, if granted, the relief which he seeks, would serve not only expose his own family to unnecessary risk, and possibly death, but to expose hundreds and quite possibly hundreds of others. The logistics and other responsibilities for enforcing the arrangements he proposes remains that of the State’s constitutionally and statutorily and could not be delegated or outsourced for any reason whatsoever,” Justice Reynolds explained.
He stated that nothing in the affidavit or the supplementary affidavit submitted by Gobin meets the threshold of sufficiency that would warrant the intervention that was sought. The Court, Justice Reynolds said is that the measures introduced by the Government of Guyana are not arbitrary, and they accord reasonably with international guidelines to prevent, detect, contain and eliminate the spread of the deadly virus COVID-19.
“In resolving the collision of the legitimate, meaning the constitutional rights contended by the applicant and those of the wider Guyanese community inclusive of his own family) the court had recourse to the proportionality test, a legal method used by courts, typically constitutional courts, to decide such cases, where legitimate rights collide. It is common in such cases that a resolution necessarily leads to one right prevailing at the expense of another. In order to decide such cases correctly, the court must balance (or weigh) the respective rights against the damage likely to accrue from a judgment resulting in their denial,” the High Court Judge explained.
President Granger, on March 16, 2020, had issued directions pursuant to the Public Health Ordinance, in which he empowered the Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence to take strategic actions so as to maintain the wellbeing of the nation.
Based on the orders issued by the Head of State, the Public Health Minister is empowered transform one or more hospitals or camps, in any part of the country, for the reception, isolation and treatment of persons suffering from COVID-19. The President also declared: “the Minister of Public Health shall take measures to (a) restrain, segregate and isolate persons suffering from the disease, or who may be likely from exposure to the infection suffer from the disease.”
Further to that, on March 18, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority closed both international airports. Approximately eight days after the close of the border, permission was granted for a plane to enter Guyana from Barbados, but on one condition, that its passengers be subjected institutional quarantine as required by Public Health Ministry. Gobin was among a number of Guyanese who had arrived on the flight.
