Derek Achong

Se­nior Re­porter

derek.achong@guardian.co.tt

For­mer En­vi­ron­men­tal Com­mis­sion chair­man Sunil Sookraj has filed a law­suit against Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and her Cab­i­net, over an al­leged de­ci­sion last year to re­voke his reap­point­ment.

The law­suit re­port­ed­ly chal­lenges the Cab­i­net’s ad­vice to the Pres­i­dent to re­voke Sookraj’s reap­point­ment, on the grounds that he held “an in­ter­est which is in­com­pat­i­ble with his ju­di­cial po­si­tion and the func­tion as a mem­ber of the com­mis­sion.”

Lawyers from the So­lic­i­tor Gen­er­al’s De­part­ment in the Of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al are re­port­ed­ly bas­ing their ar­gu­ment on ev­i­dence that can prove Sookraj’s at­ten­dance at meet­ings of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) and/or in­volve­ment in cam­paign ac­tiv­i­ties for the Gen­er­al Elec­tions of 2015, 2020, and in par­tic­u­lar, 2025.

The lawyers be­lieve they can prove a re­la­tion­ship ex­ist­ed be­tween Sookraj and for­mer PNM can­di­date for Ch­agua­nas East, Richie Sookhai, pri­or to Sookhai fil­ing his nom­i­na­tion pa­pers for the Gen­er­al Elec­tion on April 28 last year.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar and her Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress-led coali­tion even­tu­al­ly won that elec­tion, se­cur­ing 26 seats and form­ing the Gov­ern­ment.

The En­vi­ron­men­tal Com­mis­sion, es­tab­lished un­der the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Act 2000, is em­pow­ered to hear ap­peals re­gard­ing de­ci­sions and des­ig­na­tions made by the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty (EMA). As a su­pe­ri­or court of record, it al­so pre­sides over pri­vate en­vi­ron­men­tal com­plaints from cit­i­zens.

Checks on the com­mis­sion’s web­site show that Sookraj is still list­ed as chair­man. Ac­cord­ing to the site, he is an at­tor­ney with over 20 years of ex­pe­ri­ence in cor­po­rate, con­tract, com­mer­cial, and en­vi­ron­men­tal law. He pre­vi­ous­ly served as vice pres­i­dent of the As­sem­bly of South­ern Lawyers and is a mem­ber of the New York State Bar As­so­ci­a­tion.