The Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) is distancing itself from proposed legal action between Equal Opportunity Tribunal (EOT) lay assessor Veera Bhajan and the tribunal’s chairman.

In a release on Monday, the EOC said it was not true that the commission prevented Bhajan from taking up her post.

The tribunal is chaired by attorney Donna Prowell-Raphael and the commission is chaired by former independent senator attorney Ian Roach

The release said the tribunal was not “one and the same” as the commission, and any suggestion to this end was “misleading information.”

“It must be unequivocally stated that the Equal Opportunity Commission is an independent body that is a separate institution from the Equal Opportunity Tribunal and as such, it is not the ‘commission’s tribunal,’” it stressed.

It said both the commission and tribunal were created by the Equal Opportunity Act Chap 22:03 with mandates to enforce that act, but they "are separate and independent from each other and perform distinct functions.”

The release pointed out that the tribunal is chaired by a judge who is appointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission. The current judge is Prowell-Raphael. Apart from the judge, the tribunal also consists of two lay assessors appointed by the President.

“The commission is not involved in the appointment or functioning of the judge or lay assessors of the tribunal and cannot speak to recent media reports about Ms Bhajan.

“The tribunal is not a part of the commission, nor is the commission a part of the tribunal.”

Other members of the commission are vice-chair Dr Gabrielle Hosein, John Arnold, Peter Elias and Dr Krystal-Jane Veerasammy.

The commission’s role is to investigate and conciliate complaints of discrimination, while the tribunal’s role is to adjudicate on those complaints that were not resolved.

In her proposed lawsuit, Bhajan, an attorney, who was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (Silver) in 2011, says she is being blocked from taking up the position of lay assessor. She was appointed on March 17 by President Paula-Mae Weekes.

Attorney Richard Chaitoo, representing Bhajan, who was born without arms, issued a pre-action protocol letter to Prowell-Raphael and the Attorney General on July 30.

The legal letter said after receiving her instrument of appointment, she tried several times by phone and e-mail to contact the tribunal to begin her work there.

The letter said it was Prowell-Raphael’s position, communicated to Bhajan, that the tribunal did not have the “logistic and or financial wherewithal” to accommodate another lay assessor.

Prowell-Raphael also allegedly said she did not require an additional lay assessor on the basis of the tribunal’s limited workflow at the time.

“Such an assumption would result in that person being paid a substantial salary to remain home and do nothing. This is not only inconsistent with the policy of the tribunal but is imprudent and irresponsible at this time of national detriment and parsimony,” Prowell-Raphael was quoted as saying in her