Appeal Court upholds $3.1m ruling for ex-Industrial Court member

News Jada Loutoo 16 Hrs Ago

The Hall of Justice, Port of Spain. - File photo

THE Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling of the High Court in favour of former member of the Industrial Court Sam Maharaj, who was awarded more than $3 million in compensation for distress, inconvenience and pecuniary loss over the refusal of the Patrick Manning cabinet to renew his contract in 2000.

Justices of Appeal Gillian Lucky, Mira Dean-Armourer and Carla Brown-Antoine dismissed the appeal filed by the State against a 2019 ruling of Justice Frank Seepersad. A cross-appeal filed by Maharaj was also dismissed.

In a written decision in February 2019, in which he called for a review of the way appointments and re-appointments are made to that court, Seepersad ordered compensation for Maharaj of $3.17 million.

In December 2016, five months after Manning’s death, the London-based Privy Council delivered a ruling in favour of Maharaj, a former general secretary of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union, and sent his case back to the High Court to determine compensation.

In 2000, the then-labour minister was reported to have told cabinet that Maharaj could neither “write, read nor speak properly and was not suited to be a member of the Industrial Court.” The cabinet, acting on this representation, declined to reappoint Maharaj.

The Court of Appeal, in December 2014, ruled in Maharaj’s favour, but no compensation was awarded.

Maharaj first brought the judicial-review action in January 2004. He was represented by Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Nyala Badal.