Court of Appeal partially upholds TTCB election appeal; Ramnarine hit with 60% legal costs

The Court of Appeal has weighed in on a long-standing legal dispute related to the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) elections in 2019.

Delivering a judgement, late last week, Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh, and Appellate Judges Mira Dean-Armorer and Ricky Rahim partially upheld an appeal from the TTCB over the outcome of a lawsuit brought by former presidential candidate Dinanath Ramnarine.

The panel also wholly dismissed a cross-appeal from Ramnarine.

The appeal centred around a judgment delivered by Justice Frank Seepersad in January 2020 after Ramnarine filed it following his defeat in the executive elections.

While Seepersad dismissed Ramnarine’s substantive claim over the eligibility of TTCB zonal and affiliate representatives to vote in the elections, he upheld his (Ramnarine) concerns over a National Gas Company (NGC) audit into alleged financial discrepancies in the organisation.

The TTCB filed the appeal alleging that Justice Seepersad was wrong to have ordered a five-member committee, including Ramnarine or his representative be appointed to consider the effect of the audit report on the organisation.

Ramnarine filed a cross appeal claiming that Justice Seepersad wrongly decided the substantive claim over eligibility to vote.

The outcome of the case was largely academic, as there have been two TTCB elections since the one under challenge.

Justice Dean-Armorer, who wrote the panel’s decision, ruled that Justice Seepersad could not be faulted for his decision on the eligibility of representatives to vote in the election.

She noted that he was right to rule that the election could have only been overturned by the court based on substantial irregularity.

“The principle is unquestionably sound and has been applied even for national elections. The purpose of the election process is to give effect to the democratic will, which should not lightly be invalidated,” she said.

While Justice Dean-Armorer ruled that Justice Seepersad had the jurisdiction to direct that an investigation into the NGC report be conducted, she found that he overstepped in directing the number of members that should be on the committee and mandating Ramnarine’s involvement in the process.

“He was empowered to declare that there should be an investigation. The details of the membership and the terms of reference of the investigating committee fall within the authority of the decision maker,” she said.

Justice Dean-Armorer adjusted Justice Seepersad’s order to reflect the Court of Appeal’s views.

She also ordered Ramnarine to pay 60 per cent of the legal cost incurred by the TTCB in defending the lawsuit and pursuing the appeal.

The TTCB was represented by Fyard Hosein, SC, Aadam Hosein, and Anjali Maharaj. Ramnarine was represented by Kiel Taklalsingh and Vivek Lakhan-Joseph.