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The Supreme Court has two family appeals listed. On Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 October 2009, Re I (A Child) and on Wednesday 14 October, Re B (A Child). There are no Supreme Court hearings listed for Thursday or Friday 15 and 16 October. The listings can be seen on the Court’s website “Court Sittings” link which is now operational.
The official opening of the Supreme Court by the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will take place on 16 October 2009. This has been announced on the “Official Website of the British Monarchy” but not yet on the Supreme Court website. The opening ceremony is not open to the public but will be attended by a number of judges from other Supreme Courts, including from the United States. The Supreme Court building is closed on Thursday and Friday for the Official Opening.
There are two hearings before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which will both be heard by the same panel of 5 Supreme Court Justices.
The appeal in Chandresh Sharma v Lenny Saith and Minister of Public Administration (to be heard on 12 October 2009) is another chapter in the Mr Sharma’s attempts to ensure that the provisions of the Trinidad and Tobago Freedom of Information Act 1999
are enforced. Mr Sharma is an opposition member of Parliament and an earlier appeal by the Government was dismissed by the JCPC on 3 August 2009 (see Honourable Patrick Manning v Chandresh Sharma, [2009] UKPC 36). The judgment subject to appeal is available on the Trinidad and Tobago Court Libraries Gateway
The second appeal (to be heard on 13 October 2009) is Carmel Smith v Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago. This concerns a preliminary issue as to whether the Attorney-General is the proper party to constitutional proceedings where redress is being claimed against a public body responsible for the appointment and discipline of public officials (the SASC). The judge held that the SASC was the proper party not the Attorney-General but was reversed on appeal. The judgment of the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal is available here.