BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A one-month adjournment has been granted in the ongoing judicial review case of the Constituency Boundaries Commission (CBC), making this the longest adjournment asked for in the lengthy and equally contentious legal battle.
In a very brief hearing this morning (Dec. 15), legal counsel representing the Governor-General, Attorney-General and the Supervisor of Elections in this matter, Arundranauth Gosai, informed the Court that both sides had made an agreement that the matter should be adjourned until January at a date convenient to both parties.
Constance Mitcham, lead counsel representing the claimants, opposition parliamentarians Hon. Mark Brantley and Hon. Shawn Richards, told the Court that she would not be available before January 15, 2009. Considering both sides, presiding judge His Lordship Justice Francis Belle adjourned the matter until January 25, emphasizing that the status quo must be preserved until then.
Counsel representing the government in the matter Sylvester Anthony said the adjournment was to give lawyers for both sides a break for the Christmas season. He acknowledged the fact that the injunction preventing the CBC from finishing its report remains in place, but reminded the press that his side filed to appeal the injunction. Although it is not known when the injunction appeal will be heard, Anthony repeated that “any and everything is possible”.
“We have filed a number of applications in between and those applications are very important to us. There is the recusal application and there is an application for disclosure to which we object very vehemently. So, those matters in any event would have resulted in the case not being determined for now. Given those matters and given that Christmas is here, it seems logical that the matter is put off until next year,” Anthony said to a group of media practitioners following the hearing.
Mitcham said she doubts that any new boundaries can come into effect before January 25, adding that the present boundaries will take effect tomorrow (Dec. 16) when National Parliament is expected to be automatically dissolved.
“They can’t pass a new proclamation because there is an injunction in place. If an injunction is overturned then that is a different matter. But I doubt that any court would overturn an injunction in such an important constitutional matter when the case is still pending because normally you have to try to maintain the status quo, which means everything should remain as is until the matter is completed,” Mitcham added.
This initial leave for judicial review was formally requested on Tuesday (Nov. 24) by Brantley and Richards. After an injunction was imposed to restrain the work of the CBC and to prohibit the use of any report emanating from that body, respondents made a request last week for the Justice Belle to be recused.
The case has seen numerous delays which have significantly affected the criminal assizes for the latter part of 2009 and may have a similar delay on next year’s assizes. Court proceedings in this matter continue 9:00 a.m. January 25, 2010.
