Ex-AG Ramlogan: There was precedent for CJ’s appointment

New Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh on October 22 at his swearing-in ceremony at President's House, St Ann's. - Photo courtesy Information Division

FORMER attorney general Anand Ramlogan, SC, has welcomed the appointment of Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh as Trinidad and Tobago’s ninth Chief Justice.

He described Boodoosingh as a jurist of “unimpeachable credentials” whose leadership will strengthen public trust in the judiciary.

In a statement on October 24, Ramlogan said Boodoosingh brings to the nation’s highest judicial office “a wealth of knowledge, experience, and unimpeachable credentials,” noting that his career spans both criminal and civil practice at the Bar and on the Bench. “His quiet sense of integrity, dignity, and purpose will undoubtedly inspire renewed public confidence in the administration of justice,” he said.

Ramlogan also commended acting President Wade Mark for acting swiftly to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former Chief Justice Ivor Archie on October 22. “At a time when the office of Chief Justice stood vacant, any prolonged acting appointment would have risked undermining public confidence in the stability and independence of the Judiciary,” he said.

Addressing criticism of the short consultation period before the appointment, Ramlogan argued that there was “ample precedent for an abbreviated consultation process in matters of national importance where urgency dictates prompt decision-making.”

He cited the 2015 appointment of Alvin Hilaire as Central Bank governor following the dismissal of Jwala Rambarran, noting that the acting president at the time, Christine Kangaloo, had acted immediately.

He added that Archie’s prior announcement of his retirement “more than a month ago” gave constitutional officeholders sufficient time to consider potential successors, rendering the opposition’s claim of inadequate consultation “hollow.”

Ramlogan maintained that the appointment was both lawful and constitutionally sound. “There is no basis to impugn either the procedural legitimacy or the constitutional propriety of this appointment,” he said. “Indeed, our constitutional history provides instructive precedent. It was an acting president Emmanuel Carter who granted an amnesty to Yasin Abu Bakr and the insurgents following the July 1990 insurrection, and the Privy Council upheld the validity of that exercise of executive authority.”

He said Boodoosingh’s appointment “rests on solid constitutional footing” and that “the nation can have full confidence in the continuity and integrity of judicial leadership under Chief Justice Boodoosingh.”

Legal sources said even if the appointment process is challenged in a constitutional claim, it would not change the appointment, but the court can issue a declaration.