Registry faces dilemma with two registrars

Jan 26, 2017 News 3

There is a strange situation at the Deeds and Commercial Registry, on the Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown. For more than a week now, there are two officials who are laying claims to the top post of the entity, that of the Registrar (Acting).

The matter has now drawn in the Attorney General’s Chambers and is engaging the attention of the Public Service Ministry.

It all started sometime last year when the Registrar (ag), Nicole Prince, applied for study leave to the United Kingdom. However, the approval was only given a few weeks ago by Attorney General Basil Williams.

Prince reportedly had to travel to the US to pick up her documents, but learnt that she had arrived more than a week late, and it was advisable that she make plans to start her classes in September.

Prince was in the US when the Attorney General’s Chambers issued a statement that Rukmini Bijlall had been appointed Registrar (ag). Geeta Bhajnauth as a result was the new Deputy Registrar (ag), a position held previously by Bijlall.

Prince flew back to Guyana and returned to work at the Registry on January 16, only to learn that her former deputy had been appointed to Registrar (ag).

Both women reportedly were refusing to budge last week, with Prince taking up her office.

Both were signing documents last week.

On January 17, it was reported that a senior official of the Attorney General’s Chambers came to collect the office keys from Prince but she refused to hand them over, insisting that she is still the Registrar (ag).

The matter came to a head and ended with a meeting last Friday where the Attorney General reportedly said that the matter has been sent to the Public Service Ministry for advice.

Prince reportedly agreed to give the Attorney General until Friday for a definitive answer.

She has stayed away from the office this week.

The purpose of the Deeds Registry is to efficiently and expeditiously administer the laws enacted by Parliament affecting land, whether by way of transport, land registration, leases, mortgages or any other alienation as well as those laws relating to trade marks, patents, copyrights, trade unions, companies, partnership, business names, powers of attorney, contracts and other deeds; and to take in revenue of the filing and registration of the various documents which are recorded in the Deeds Registry.