Stories by DEREK ACHONG
Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Former acting prisons commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar has been strongly criticised by a High Court Judge for initiating an investigation after a female prison officer won an almost two-decade-long legal battle over being declared to have abandoned her job after missing work for several months due to injury and pregnancy.
Delivering a judgment, yesterday morning, Justice Frank Seepersad upheld another lawsuit from Favianna Gajadhar, of Arima, who claimed that Ramoutar acted illegally and unfairly when he commenced the probe after she scored a major legal victory and was awarded $3.5 million in compensation in October, last year.
Justice Seepersad said: “It is evident that the First Defendant (Prisons Commissioner) instituted an enquiry without a legitimate basis for doing so and he erred and exceeded the authority vested in him.”
“This manner of conduct has to be condemned as this type of behaviour brings the administration of justice into disrepute and erodes public confidence in the rule of law,” he added.
According to the evidence, Gajadhar, who joined the T&T Prison Service in 2000, suffered a back injury and was absent from duty for extended periods between 2004 and 2006.
Gajadhar got pregnant during the period and sought to resume her duties three months after her daughter was born in June 2006.
She was barred by her supervisor, who indicated that she could not resume her duties as she had not properly accounted for the periods of her absence.
While Gajadhar claimed that she submitted her sick leave and maternity leave certificates, the Public Service Commission (PSC) still declared that she had effectively resigned from her post, effective June 2007, as she was absent without leave between April 2006 to then.
Gajadhar filed a judicial review case against the commission, which was upheld by the High Court and the Court of Appeal, who ordered it (the commission) to reconsider.
The commission reconsidered the issue in November 2017 and stood by its initial decision albeit for a different reason, an issue with Gajadhar’s maternity leave application under the Maternity Benefit Act.
Gajadhar brought another lawsuit against the second decision, which was also upheld by both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The PSC considered the case for the third time and reinstated Gajadhar in April 2022.
However, Gajadhar was not paid her outstanding salary and benefits for the past 15 years as the PSC instructed the Prisons Commissioner to do so by “classifying “ her absence from duty.
When the case came up for hearing, the PSC accepted that Gajadhar was owed her outstanding salary and benefits but claimed that she would only be paid after an audit was conducted.
In upholding the case last year, Justice Seepersad criticised the PSC for its delay in paying Gajadhar her outstanding salary.
The majority of the compensation awarded by Justice Seepersad represented the $2,821,744.54 in salary and benefits she would have received had she not been improperly terminated by the PSC. She was also awarded significant compensation for breaches of her constitutional rights.
Shortly after the decision, Ramoutar initiated an investigation into the incident at the Arouca Women’s Prison in 2004 which caused her back injury.
Although Ramoutar eventually retired and Carlos Corraspe was appointed to act in the post, the probe continued.
While her latest case was before Justice Seepersad, Corrapse informed her that the probe had concluded that there was no evidence that she suffered the fall, which she claimed caused her back injury.
Justice Seepersad noted that no concerns over the incident were raised during her previous litigation. He also noted that she was unfairly called upon to give evidence over an incident that occurred over two decades ago.
“The proposed investigation when viewed against the previous litigation which unfolded and the positions advanced during the many said actions, was outrageous and defied logic,” he said.
Justice Seepersad also questioned the motivation for the probe.
“The various cases which were instituted, have left this Court with a feeling that the Claimant was the victim of entrenched misogynistic views and it appears that this new investigation is but another vexatious attempt to act oppressively and to subject her to yet another round of unjustifiable harassment,” he said.
Justice Seepersad ruled that the probe was null and void and invalidated the outcome.
Gajadhar was awarded $40,000 in compensatory damages and $60,000 in vindicatory damages for breach of her constitutional right to protection of the law.
The State was also ordered to pay her legal costs for the case.
