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Jan 10, 2015 News
There is no need for a Conservatory Order – state lawyers
Lawyers representing the State yesterday argued that there is no need for a Conservatory Order being sought
against the State by Opposition Leader, David Granger, in an effort to prevent Government’s spending of all monies unapproved by the National Assembly.
Granger is seeking a conservatory order to stay all spending and/or any further spending by Finance Minister Ashni Singh, or other Ministers designated by the President on programmes disapproved or not authorized by the National Assembly until the court matter has been heard and determined.
Some $36.75B was disapproved by the Opposition-controlled National Assembly. The disapproved monies included some $1.3B from Office of the President (OP) under its Administrative Services programme; $3.8B also from Office of the President for capital estimates also under Administrative Services; some $22B from Ministry of Finance; $1.1B from Ministry of Amerindian Affairs’ Development Fund; $6.78B from Ministry of Public Works capital works and $1.3B from the Ministry of Health’s Regional and Clinic.
However, the Finance Minister admitted that some $4.5B had been spent for the period ended June 16, 2014. As such, Granger is asking the court to declare that the National Assembly, in keeping with Article 218 (2) of the Constitution, lawfully disapproved in the annual estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of 2014.
The application that was presented before Chief Justice (Ag), Ian Chang, named Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, the Attorney General and Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman as the defendants.
In an affidavit in answer, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, had called on the court to refuse the application, with an appropriate order for costs, given that the challenge is wholly misconceived and erroneous in law.
Yesterday, in his submissions before the Chief Justice, Nandlall largely concentrated on procedural deficiencies which he claimed afflicted the proceedings which were filed. The Attorney General, (AG) submitted that a Conservatory Order shouldn’t be granted since there has been no violation of the fundamental rights of the citizenry.
The AG held that a Conservatory Order is a special type of order which should be granted when there is an allegation that there is violation of the fundamental rights of the citizenry.
“In this action there is no allegation that anyone’s fundamental right has been contravened. In fact, this is not a case that concerns fundamental rights. The wide amplitude of remedies and powers which a court would normally have in an action in which a citizen would have in a case of the breach of fundamental rights, are not available in this type of proceeding,” Nandlall told the media yesterday.
The AG further noted that the Minister of Finance has been misnamed in the proceedings.
“The State Liabilities Act clearly says that all proceedings against the State should be brought against the AG.”
Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman is also named as respondent in the matter, which Nandlall says is yet another example of a party who has been wrongfully named.
“Why is the Speaker named as party in the application? Is Mr. David Granger saying that the Speaker is spending money unlawfully? Why is he dragged to court? I made submissions to that effect even though I am not appearing for the Speaker because the Speaker has been wrongfully brought to the court. Why is he even named as a party?
Attorney -at- Law, Basil Williams, who is representing the Opposition Leader in the matter, maintains that the actions of the Minister clearly indicated a breach of principles and doctrines of a system of separation of powers.
Williams reiterated that the Minister had admitted to spending the unapproved monies.
“He brought a statement of excess to Parliament which we refused to pass,” the lawyer added.
The Attorney General had described the court action as a misconceived badly taught out strategy.
“I think the case was filed as an afterthought because it seeks to restrain spending when the spending would have been almost completed. The case was filed at the end 2014 to prevent spending in 2014,” Nandlall had said.
However, Williams dismissed claims that the matter expired at the end of 2014 as “nonsense.” He said that the action is necessary since the Government can only spend for the first four months of 2015 based on 1/12 of that which was appropriated in 2014.
“’It must be relevant …if you have done something illegally in 2014 does it become legal because the year ended?” Williams questioned.
He further explained that the Finance Minister cannot be wrongly named as a respondent because the constitution refers to him as an integral part of the proceeding. Williams added that the Speaker of the National Assembly is named as a relevant and interested party in the matter since he is in charge of the Parliament.
He said, “Whilst the government coffers will be affected, a Conservatory Order is a necessary device to maintain the status quo, because in the case of a substantive action we won’t have any money in the coffers anymore.”
When the matter resumes Wednesday, the Attorneys are scheduled to address the constitutional aspects of the matter; they will make on whether the Minister of Finance had acted unconstitutionally by spending the unapproved monies.
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