[1999]DLSC121 • June 23, 1999 • Supreme Court •
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE vs ATTORNEY-GENERAL
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (the plaintiff) sought declarations regarding its jurisdiction under section 352 of the transitional provisions of the 1992 Constitution to restore properties confiscated by the State during the AFRC and PNDC regimes, including confiscations made by special courts or tribunals. The plaintiff relied on a petition by Col CR Tachie-Menson, whose properties were confiscated by the AFRC Special Court. The Attorney-General (defendant) denied the plaintiff's jurisdiction to review or restore properties confiscated by courts or tribunals established under the AFRC or PNDC regimes.
read moreJUDGMENT OF CHARLES HAYFRON-BENJAMIN Charles Hayfron-Benjamin JSC delivered the judgment of the court. On 31 July 1998 this court dismissed the writ of the commission invoking the assistance of this court to resolve an apparent conflict in the relative positions of the parties vis-à-vis their respective functions under the Constitution, 1992. For whereas the plaintiff (Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice) is “In the performance of (their) functions, not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority”, the defendant (the Attorney-General) on the other hand is a member of the executive branch of government and the chief legal adviser to the government. The principles of the separation of powers to which to a great extent our Constitution, 1992 gives support enjoin this court as arbiters of conflicts within the Constitution, 1992 in the interpretation or enforcement thereof, not to adopt attitudes and positions which may appear to incline us...