High Court judge Carol Gobin is questioning the authority of the Judiciary’s Medical Response Team and Court Administrators who she has accused of acting “capriciously (to) deny me and my team access to the Hall of Justice, and to obstruct me in the performance of my judicial duties.”
Justice Gobin, who has asked for the intervention of Chief Justice Ivor Archie, is also questioning the logic to shut down the Hall of Justice from Tuesday, August 16 to Monday, August 22 because of “COVID exposure” in the building.
In a letter to Chief Justice Archie, which was released to the media, Justice Gobin detailed how she was informed last Tuesday via an email about the suspension of “all in person activities at the Hall of Justice” until today (August 22) as a result of “COVID exposure in the building.”
Justice Gobin said she considered the “far reaching, intrusive decision to be quite perplexing.”
Saying that when she pressed for further information given what she called a vague explanation, Judge Gobin said she was told a superspreader event took place at the Hall the week before and several people had fallen ill.
However, the judge said she was astounded since she received no details of such an event and had not noticed any unusual activity that said week.
According to the judge, the move to completely shut down the Hall of Justice was more than an inconvenience as it denied access to the public, and staff and directly interfered with her judicial independence.
Justice Gobin in the letter said she ignored the directive and worked in person out of her chambers at the Hall of Justice.
She said, “Throughout the period I observed no sanitising operation taking place so I can only guess that shutting down the building was an available as well as preferable option. The ease with which such an extreme decision could be implemented with impunity is deeply troubling to me.”
Justice Gobin added, “It provides further evidence of a growing and increasingly dangerous trend toward the assumption of extraordinary power by persons who are involved in Court administration who are purporting to exercise power which directly affects the public interest in the administration of justice. These persons appear to have no interest in nor any appreciation of fundamental constitutional concepts such as independence of the judiciary, open justice, access to justice or transparency in the operations of the judiciary as an arm of government.”
Justice Gobin also noted that over the past few months, “I have had to fight with subordinate Court Administration staff to get back into the Hall for judicial work, to resist a roster system which continues in effect and to insist that my team have access to their work every day instead of on alternate days.”
She also related an incident three weeks ago where the Medical Response Team ordered her staff into quarantine after they entered a room individually for no more than 30 seconds to sign an attendance register.
The judge noted only one person who was permanently stationed there tested positive later that day. Justice Gobin in her letter told the Chief Justice that this cannot continue.
“I will not allow a mainly nameless, faceless group of persons, the MRT, and our Court Administrators who empower them, to capriciously deny me and my team access to the Hall of Justice, and to obstruct me in the performance of my judicial duties.
“We are at the point where in my view, the most serious threat to the independence of the judiciary is coming from within. It is being perpetrated by Court administrators and their agents who are through what are claimed to be “administrative” decisions effectively controlling and denying basic access and team support at a whim.
“Further, pressure, (not so subtle), is being applied to impose a work-from-home policy to dictate how we discharge our duties.”
Justice Gobin added the myth that staff can work from home efficiently can be easily debunked.
She explained her secretary does not have even access to her work and judiciary programmes on the laptop provided by the judiciary and can provide little assistance unless she is at her desk at the Hall of Justice.
Justice Gobin said in an effort to consider what further action she may take, she has called on the Chief Justice to disclose: the composition of the MRT, including details of the qualifications of the members, experience, and terms and conditions of their employment; all written policy documents of the MRT published or relating to COVID management throughout the judiciary since its appointment and any adjustments or amendments made in the light of recent government policy and the legal basis for the implementation of policies by the Judiciary which appear to be inconsistent with current Ministry of Health guidelines and national policy including the complete shutting down of operations and buildings and orders for compulsory quarantine of staff members by the MRT with varying conditions for return to work including demand for proof of negative COVID test results, sometimes one, sometimes two.
Justice Gobin also made the Chief Justice aware that she was making the letter public, since as she said, “It has been my unhappy experience in the past that all my requests for meetings, or your intervention on matters such as these or requests for responses from yourself and the CEATT or the CPIM have been ignored or ridiculed and met with snide retorts.”
The judge told the Chief Justice Archie she is awaiting his response “in the public domain perhaps.”