Rose­marie Sant

The Gov­ern­ment will need to bring leg­isla­tive changes to the Maxi Taxi Act if it wants to re­move re­stric­tions on the own­er­ship of band­ed maxi taxis al­low­ing own­ers to buy and band their maxi taxis and dri­ve wher­ev­er they please with­out re­stric­tion.

A move which the Fi­nance Min­is­ter told the coun­try in the bud­get was meant to open up the pub­lic trans­porta­tion sys­tem.

Se­nior Coun­sel Ramesh Lawrence Ma­haraj who rep­re­sent­ed the maxi taxi dri­vers in a sim­i­lar mat­ter in 2011 told the T&T Guardian that the change an­nounced by the Fi­nance Min­is­ter in the 2017-2018 bud­get pre­sen­ta­tion “will re­quire leg­isla­tive change,” but he said the amend­ment “will not re­quire a spe­cial ma­jor­i­ty since it will be re­mov­ing a re­stric­tion.”

The an­nounce­ment by the Min­is­ter has caused some con­cern not just among the maxi taxi dri­vers but the Op­po­si­tion UNC as well. Po­lit­i­cal leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar said it seemed that the Min­is­ter on­ly thought about the ini­tia­tive when he was pre­sent­ing the bud­get since it is not con­tained in the bud­get state­ment which was giv­en out on Bud­get Day.

She de­scribed the de­ci­sion as “a be­tray­al by the PNM Gov­ern­ment.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­called that in 2011, an at­tempt was made to re­move the re­stric­tions on the reg­is­tra­tion of maxi taxis but this was shut down by the High Court.

Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Wade Mark said, “it is un­heard of that a Min­is­ter of Fi­nance could make such a state­ment on the fly, on the huff with­out the state­ment con­tained in the bud­get state­ment.”

He de­scribed it as a “faux pas” which re­flects not just on the Min­is­ter, but “the Prime Min­is­ter and the Cab­i­net. How can they re­lease a doc­u­ment with­out a fun­da­men­tal pol­i­cy state­ment, that is un­heard of,” he said.

Mark was al­so of the view that there is need for “leg­isla­tive changes if this pol­i­cy is to be ef­fect­ed.” He felt that be­cause the de­ci­sion is chang­ing a court rul­ing “it may re­quire spe­cial ma­jor­i­ty leg­is­la­tion.”

Maxi-taxi dri­vers say they are hop­ing that the Gov­ern­ment will meet with them to dis­cuss the in­crease in fu­el prices, the tax on tyres and the de­ci­sion to re­move re­stric­tions.

Pres­i­dent of the As­so­ci­a­tion of Maxi Taxis Eon He­witt said these mea­sures “will im­pact the trav­el­ling pub­lic and we ask­ing the Gov­ern­ment for a meet­ing. This will help if we can meet with them.”

He­witt said as far as the as­so­ci­a­tion knows “there is a court or­der” on the is­sue of re­mov­ing re­stric­tions to maxi taxis dat­ing back to 2011 when the maxi taxi dri­vers through their at­tor­ney Ramesh Lawrence Ma­haraj went to court to chal­lenge a de­ci­sion by the then Min­is­ter Jack Warn­er to open up the in­dus­try. In her rul­ing, Jus­tice Joan Charles cit­ed the lack of con­sul­ta­tion with the ad­vi­so­ry com­mit­tee.

In ad­di­tion, he said, there was “no con­sul­ta­tion” with an ad­vi­so­ry com­mit­tee as is pro­vid­ed for in the Maxi Taxi Act.

Among the rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the maxi taxi dri­vers who sit on that Com­mit­tee are He­witt, Li­nus Phillip, pres­i­dent of the Route two Maxi Taxi As­so­ci­a­tion and Ar­joon Sinanan, pres­i­dent of the Route Four Maxi Taxi as­so­ci­a­tion.

Phillip said if the Gov­ern­ment at­tempts to im­ple­ment the mea­sure they may face le­gal ac­tion. This view is shared by Sinanan who said dri­vers are of the view that they should “legal­ly chal­lenge” the de­ci­sion of the Min­is­ter if they have to.

The three maxi taxi mem­bers who sit on the Com­mit­tee all told the T&T Guardian that there was no con­sul­ta­tion with the Com­mit­tee.

Sinanan said, “it is en­shrined in the Maxi Taxi Act that there must be con­sul­ta­tion with the ad­vi­so­ry com­mit­tee and there was none.”

The Act, he said, al­so has reg­u­la­tions gov­ern­ing the num­ber of maxi taxis op­er­at­ing on a route.