The Law Association will debate a resolution calling for the resignation of the Chief Justice and members of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) at a Special General Meeting on June 1 over the appointment and subsequent resignation of Marcia Ayers-Caesar as a high court judge.
The meeting was prompted by a petition which was signed by over 60 attorneys expressing a loss of confidence in the CJ and the JLSC over the situation.
The lawyers say that the CJ and the JLSC should have had knowledge and access to any information on any part-heard matters before the Chief Magistrate and was under an obligation to provide the information to the JLSC before her appointment was made.
That view is shared by 11 Senior Counsel who met last Friday and subsequently issued a list of questions for the Chief Justice and the JLSC as well as Ayers-Caesar to answer.
A second meeting of senior attorneys which was due to be held this week has since been shelved, pending a statement from Ayers-Caesar.
Senior Counsel Israel Khan told the T&T Guardian that they have agreed that if Ayers-Caesar did not say anything in a week, they will reconvene.
One of the country’s oldest criminal lawyers Nizam Mohammed said he believed that “if the situation escalates the President will have to step in, but I hope it does not reach that stage.”
Mohammed who has been in practice for more than four decades said the country had found itself in “the most unfortunate situation whereby all the part-heard matters left by Ayers-Caesar will have to be heard de novo-as new- and in such a development you cannot rule out a series of challenges on the basis of abuse of process by the court administration itself, meaning the Judiciary and the Magistracy.”
He said it is only when that happens “that we will understand how messy this situation is.
“It is an abuse of process through no fault of the prisoners.
“Look at how many witnesses gave evidence, how many statements were given, this is not fair to the victims or the prisoners.
“This mess is unfathomable.”
