THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE vs. ATTORNEY GENERAL

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT C. HAYFRON-BENJAMIN. J.S.C.: On the 31st July, 1998 this Court dismissed the writ of the Commissioner invoking the assistance of this Court to resolve an apparent conflict in the relative positions of the parties vis-a-vis their respective functions under the Constitution. 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 (Attorney-General) on the other hand is a member of the Executive Branch of Government and Chief Legal Adviser to the Government. The principles of the separation of powers to which to a great extent our Constitution gives support enjoin this Court as arbiters of conflicts within the Constitution in the interpretation or enforcement thereof not to adopt attitudes and positions which may appear to incline us into proffering advice on matters which do not come within the ambit of ou...