Gail Alexander
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley Rowley yesterday said the matter of Chief Justice Ivor Archie's vacation application is purely in the realm of President Anthony Carmona to determine whether the law on terms/conditions of vacation is observed by those accessing and granting such leave.
He said Cabinet has no role in Archie applying for vacation. However, he said he had noted to Carmona in his letter, the law that applies to terms/conditions for members of the judiciary.
"It's for them to conduct themselves according to the law," he added.
Rowley's letter to Carmona noted Archie's claim to using a portion of his vacation entitlement based "upon his purported entitlement to accumulated leave of 35 weeks."
Rowley added, "I trust that as a judge, the honourable Chief Justice and Your Excellency, both in our current office and as a former member of the higher judiciary, have borne in mind the provisions of Section 3 of the Judges' Salaries and Pensions Act and Section 6 of the Judges (Conditions of Service and Allowances) Regulations (No 2) regarding respectively the definition of 'judge' and the accumulation of vacation entitlements."
Rowley said he trusted Carmona has or in due course will receive a new request from Archie to go on vacation leave on the basis of accumulated leave and that there will be a recommendation for an acting CJ.
Rowley added, "I await your invitation to consult on this recent development ..."
The T&T Guardian understands that Carmona has been reviewing the CJ's new request to go on accumulative leave after he received the correspondence on Tuesday. Supreme Court judges said yesterday that it was unusual for judges to accumulate leave since their vacation coincides with the court's vacation.
The PM also said yesterday that he'd received no complaint on Archie in the context of Section 137. Whether he still has confidence in Archie serving as CJ, he said when that changes, he'd let people know.
Rowley said the situation wasn't a constitutional crisis, but if not properly handled by those duty bound to handle such matters, it can "get out of control."
He said one way or other there'll be a CJ or acting CJ for Monday's swearing-in of the new President Paula-Mae Weeks. (See Page A5)
On Carmona's tenure Rowley said (with a laugh), "We survived it.. I don't want to be the person marking that paper...sometimes you need historical perspective..."
ACCUMULATED LEAVE FOR JUDGES NOT ALLOWED
Judges’ Conditions of Service and Allowances Regulations No.2
Section 6(1) In addition to the Easter and Christmas vacations a Judge is entitled –
(a) in the case of a Justice of Appeal to six (6) weeks vacation per annum; and
(b) in the case of a puisne Judge, to four (4) weeks vacation per annum and six weeks vacation per annum respectively, in alternate years.
(2) The Vacation provided for in sub-regulation (1) shall be taken at such time or times as may be approved by the Chief Justice and shall not be accumulated from one year to another.
(Source Laws of Trinidad and Tobago - Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs)
SABBATICAL RECOMMENDATION IN THE 98TH SRC REPORT
In its 98the report the SRC looked at a number of recommendations which came from Judges. It said it was “unable to support” proposals made in respect of “a Professional allowance, Duty Allowance and Security Monitoring Allowance at this time.”
A proposal for sabbatical leave was also recommended.
The SRC in its 98th Report said while the members of the Commission agreed “in principle” to the proposal, “we recommend that office holders be eligible for a maximum of six months,” after a “minimum of seven continuous years of service and thereafter the leave should accrue to an eligible office holder at a rate of 6/7 of a month’s leave for every additional year of service completed.
We consider that this leave should be provided for the following purposes:
(a) To participate in educational programmes that are related to the administration of justice, such as formal education programmes and teaching at educational institutions or study programme to improve the judges contribution; or
(b) to undertake a project that would contribute to improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the Court.
Approval for the grant of any such leave should be determined administratively by the Chief Justice taking into account of the exigencies of the Court’s operations. Additionally appropriate administrative arrangements should be developed by the Judiciary to give effect to the facility.