Court of Appeal rejects bid for urgent hearing in CEPEP contractors case

A Laventille-based contracting company will have a long wait for the Court of Appeal to weigh in on contentious litigation over a move by the government to terminate over 300 Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme Company (CEPEP) contractors, including it.

Delivering a ruling earlier today, Appellate Judge Nolan Bereaux rejected an application from Eastman Enterprise Limited for its appeal to be heard urgently during the Judiciary’s ongoing annual vacation period.

Justice Bereaux’s decision means that the appeal will be considered by the Appeal Court in the usual manner and, as such, it may take well over a year for it to be listed for hearing.

CEPEP highlighted the outcome of the hearing in a press release issued yesterday as it noted that the company had failed to justify the need for an urgent hearing of its appeal.

“The Court said even if it did take the plight of the workers into account, there were no cogent circumstances that would allow the appeal to be heard over, above, and in priority to other matters before the Court in which other persons have been patiently waiting in queue,” it said.

“He (Justice Bereaux) stated that very cogent facts and circumstances were needed and there was no proper basis in Eastman’s evidence to hear the matter urgently,” it added.