President Bharrat Jagdeo says he never took any recommendations from the search committee he had suggested be set up to look for a suitable candidate for the position of Chief Justice, as it may have opened “a can of worms” for him.
The President’s comment came during an interaction with reporters yesterday at his New Garden Street office. He was responding to the question of using such a strategy to find a Chancellor of the Judiciary, as suggested when he met Opposition Leader Robert Corbin for consultations on the two top posts in the judiciary.
“I was not prepared to go back to a search committee,” the President told reporters.
The consultations between the two parties continued last Friday but ended in deadlock as they both maintained their original positions.
The President said yesterday that it was regrettable that he and Corbin did not reach agreement, adding that this was a difficulty the new constitution had put them in.
“It was not the intention of the constitution reform commission for anything like this to happen and so we will have to find ways to set a precedent or make the necessary change to deal with this,” he asserted.
He added that the current situation has put the two top posts in a shaky situation and suggested that if persons were confirmed in the positions they would feel more comfortable on the job, rather than have them acting.
“… It is an undesirable situation and we should take steps to deal with this,” he noted.
The President also acknowledged that he had consulted with Corbin on the proposed appointment of retired Judge Prem Persaud to serve on the Judicial Service Commission.
Jagdeo told reporters too that Corbin’s suggestion for Appeal Court Judge Justice Ian Chang to serve as Chancellor of the Judiciary was among a list of others. “He gave me several other names and Chang was also mentioned and he was trying to get me to commit to exploring several other methods but I was unprepared to delegate my powers to any group,” the President said.
Asked to disclose the other names submitted to him, Jagdeo refused saying that he only responded to the issue because the opposition leader had put it in the public domain.
Quizzed on a possible restart of consultations on the two top judicial posts in this regard, Jagdeo said he had no new candidate to bring to the consultations and so to set a date may pre-suppose that he had a candidate in mind.
He maintained his position, which is to have Justice Chang appointed the substantive Chief Justice, and Justice Carl Singh, the current Chief Justice, promoted to Chancellor of the Judiciary.
However, Jagdeo must have Corbin’s consent before the two top posts are permanently filled.
Corbin had said he and Jagdeo could not agree on who would be Chancellor of the Judiciary and this he blamed on the intransigence of the President, who, he said, was unprepared to go beyond his original nomination to find consensus.
The opposition leader said consultations on the identification of Chairman of the Police Service Commission had also concluded and the President would make the necessary announcements.
Corbin had been optimistic that he and Jagdeo would find middle ground on the nominees for the two top judicial posts. He had said that there was need to restore confidence in the judiciary and this had nothing to do with personalities but more with perception. Consultations between Jagdeo and Corbin began back in 2005.
After no decision was reached, the government subsequently moved to pass a bill in Parliament, which would give the Chief Justice the powers of Chancellor. The parliamentary opposition did not agree to the move. However the government used its majority to pass the amendment.
Corbin had nominated Justice Claudette Singh as Chief Justice.
