AN Appeal Court judge has ruled the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (EOT) and its chairman failed to establish any 'special circumstances' to justify the staying of the lawsuit brought against it by lay assessor Veera Bhajan over her not being able to take up her position.
As a result, Friday's trial will proceed as directed by the trial judge.
The EOT and chairman Donna Prowell-Raphael had asked for a stay of the proceedings before Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams to appeal her refusal to hear their application to set aside the permission she gave Bhajan to advance her judicial review claim.
In a written ruling on Tuesday, Justice of Appeal Malcolm Holdip agreed with the submissions by Bhajan's attorneys and the Attorney General that was he was asked to do would only serve to 'delay' the short, fixed timeline to trial set by Quinlan-Williams.
Bhajan's lawsuit will go on trial on Friday. Holdip also reminded that the Court of Appeal does not lightly interfere with a first instance court's case management decision.
He said the EOT and its chairman failed to identify any consequence of the rolled-up hearing of both Bhajan's judicial review claim and the challenge to the permission she received from the judge to advance her lawsuit. He said if a stay was granted, it would deprive Bhajan of a timely determination of her claim since written submissions had already been filed and exchanged and all that was left was the hearing on Friday.
In her ruling, Quinlan-Williams said she will hear the setting-aside application together with Bhajan's claim when the matter goes to trial on November 12.
In their setting-aside application, the EOT and Prowell-Raphael complained that Bhajan, in her ex-parte application for leave, left out critical information.
Bhajan was granted the court's permission to challenge a decision by the EOT and Prowell-Raphael not to comply with an appointment by President Paula-Mae Weekes and let her take up her position.
The setting-aside application also alleged that the judicial review claim was premature, since the tribunal remains inoperable because of the covid19 pandemic and other infrastructural problems.
In its appeal against Quinlan-Williams's order, the EOT and its chairman are challenging her decision to hear both matters together in November.
The appeal alleges bias on part of the judge. They said their setting-aside application was likely to succeed and the judge was required to hear it, give a ruling on it and then hear the claim for judicial review if they were unsuccessful in getting her to reverse her permission to Bhajan to pursue her claim.
Bhajan is represented by a team of attorneys led by Alvin Fitzpatrick, SC, which includes Rajiv Persad, Michael Rooplal, Shari Fitzpatrick, Rajiv Chaitoo, Clay Hackett and Gabriel Hernandez.
Representing the EOT and its chairman are Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and attorneys Kiel Taklalsingh, Leon Kalicharan, and Karina Singh.
The Attorney General is represented by Rishi Dass, Svetlana Dass, and Karissa Singh.
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