A former Industrial Court member has won his decade-old legal battle with the State over Cabinet’s failure to reappoint him amid allegations of his incompetence. In a 17-page judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal on Monday, three appellate judges ruled that Cabinet acted unfairly when it failed to properly investigate the claims against Sam Maharaj before it made its decision in 2003.
Maharaj’s victory was bittersweet as Appeal Court judges Peter Jamadar, Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Gregory Smith said they could not compel Cabinet to reconsider its decision as a considerable time had passed from when Maharaj’s initial three-year tenure at the court ended. “Even if the Cabinet were to reconsider this matter we cannot predict the outcome of such a reconsideration, so that an award of damages is too speculative and inappropriate in this case,” Jamadar, who wrote the judgment said.
Instead, the court said its declaration against Cabinet was a sufficient remedy. According to evidence presented in the case, when Maharaj’s term ended in 2003, the then Industrial Court president Addison Khan wrote to Cabinet recommending him for a second five-year term.
Despite the recommendation, Cabinet decided against it after receiving advice from former labour minister and current Industrial Court member Larry Achong, who claimed that Maharaj could “neither write, read nor speak properly.” As he refered to a series of written judgments from Maharaj during his stint at the court as well as his educational certificates, Jamadar said: “The preponderance of evidence is suggestive of the fact that Achong was clearly mistaken in what he had represented to Cabinet.”
Jamadar also questioned why Achong’s colleagues did not question his opinion and solicit a response from Maharaj. “The Cabinet faced with Achong’s startling accusations, ought to have been compelled to ask: ‘Is this really so?,’ and then to have taken steps to verify it. Fairness to the appellant, demanded no less,” Jamadar said.
While the court found Maharaj had been treated unfairly, it dismissed his claims that he had a legitimate expectation that he would have been automatically reappointed on Khan’s recommendation as it said there was no set policy on the issue. Maharaj was represented by Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, while Russell Martineau, SC, and Gerald Ramdeen appeared for the State.