ATTORNEYS for the Public Services Association (PSA) are expected to approach the Privy Council to temporarily stop a move by Finance Minister Colm Imbert from staffing the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority (TTRA).
An urgent application was expected to be filed on July 4, hours after Court of Appeal judges Mark Mohammed, Charmaine Pemberton and Mira Dean-Armorer held they were not persuaded to invoke what is known as the “slip rule.” This is a process provided for by the civil proceedings rules which allows a court to “correct” a slip or omission in a judgment or order.
On June 26, the PSA’s legal team, led by former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, sought an urgent hearing asking the Court of Appeal to “correct” its June 11 order to specifically direct a stay of the implementation and operationalisation of section 18.
The section gave public officers – some 1,200 – three months to decide on their future employment on the operationalisation of the TTRA. Those affected had the choice to resign from the public service, accept a transfer to the TTRA or be transferred to another office in the public service.
President Christine Kangaloo proclaimed the act on April 24, 2023.
Initially, the deadline for employees of the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) and the Customs and Excise Division (CED) to choose one of the options given to them was July 31, 2023. There were at least five other extensions, with the last being July 31. This drew the ire of the PSA after letters were sent out to BIR and CED staff on June 25 to exercise their option, although a limited stay was in effect.
On June 4, the judges granted the limited stay until September 25. This order was made at the hearing to grant conditional leave to the PSA to take its challenge of the constitutionality of the TTRA Act to the Privy Council.
When the limited stay was granted, the judges said at the time it made sense to temporarily preserve the status quo, as it would be conducive to the ease of administration in the public’s interest, while mindful of the administration of justice.
Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, who represents the minister, said after receiving the perfected order from the court (which is an order that is complete) – based on the PSA’s draft order – the parties brought to the court’s attention what they believed the intention to be.
“The fact is, the parties had a particular understanding of your intention and applied for the correction.
”But then the court says, ‘No, the order is what we intended.'”
This, he said, was a stay of the Appeal Court’s ruling in the PSA’s substantive appeal on May 28.
On May 28, Justices of Appeal Nolan Bereaux, Pemberton and Dean-Armorer dismissed the challenge, which High Court judge Westmin James initially rejected in November 2023. They held the TTRA Act was constitutional.
On July 4, Mendes said that on June 14, when the court said there was no error in its June 11 order, “The State got advice and was told the order did not prevent the operationalisation of section 18.
“It is irrel
