Court Rules that Boundaries Commission Report is Null and Void

ZIZ News — Justice Darshan Ramdahni, in a summary of his 74-page ruling on the case brought against the Boundaries Commission by Hon. Shawn Richards and others, announced that the Boundaries Commission Report is null and void and cannot be used as the basis for making any changes to the Federation’s boundaries.

Justice Ramdahni’s summary essentially cleared the Boundaries Commission of impropriety. It further stated that the Commission had in fact acted fairly and transparently in engaging the Federation’s opposition parties in dialogue for the purpose of crafting the final report on changing the federation’s boundaries ahead of elections.

Chairman of the Boundaries Commission, Peter Jenkins, was also vindicated. Justice Ramdhani said that nothing presented to the court suggested that Mr. Jenkins was biased in the conduct of his duties.

He also said it was a reasonable conclusion that Mr. Jenkins would not have been viewed as biased by “the average man in Independence Square.” Ramdhani also found that there was no basis for the allegations that Jenkins had been influenced in his duty as the Commission’s chairman because of interests he has in companies which engage in business with the government.

It was the Court’s decision however, that while the Commission began the consultation process on the right foot, it erred when it did not provide the draft report to those with whom it had consulted originally for further input before compiling and submitting its final report. On this basis the Court ruled that the Commission’s report was null and void and could not be submitted to the Governor General by the Prime Minister for its recommendations to be implemented.

Attorneys on both sides told ZIZ News they were reading through the court’s ruling before commenting on the matter.