The Pub­lic Ser­vices As­so­ci­a­tion (PSA) has filed an ap­pli­ca­tion for an ur­gent in­junc­tion against the gov­ern­ment to stop the im­ple­men­ta­tion of Sec­tion 18 of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Rev­enue Au­thor­i­ty (TTRA) Act.

The union has re­tained Se­nior Coun­sel Anand Ram­lo­gan and the Free­dom Law Cham­bers.

In a me­dia state­ment, the union said that the ca­reers of pub­lic of­fi­cers at the In­land Rev­enue Di­vi­sion and Cus­toms and Ex­cise are in jeop­ardy.

On Ju­ly 19, 2022, the PSA, through its mem­ber Ms. Ter­risa Dho­ray, filed a con­sti­tu­tion­al claim to chal­lenge the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the TTRA.

PSA Pres­i­dent Leroy Bap­tiste said, "While the claim was pend­ing, the gov­ern­ment, like a thief in the night, pro­claimed Sec­tion 18, which re­quires pub­lic of­fi­cers to make a choice from four op­tions by Ju­ly 29, 2023, as fol­lows: 1) vol­un­tar­i­ly re­tire from the Pub­lic Ser­vice, 2) trans­fer to the TTRA with the ap­proval of the ap­pro­pri­ate Ser­vice Com­mis­sion, 3) be ap­point­ed on trans­fer by the Pub­lic Ser­vice Com­mis­sion to a suit­able pub­lic of­fice in the En­force­ment Di­vi­sion of the TTRA and re­main in the Pub­lic Ser­vice, pro­vid­ed that an of­fi­cer com­men­su­rate pri­or to the date of the com­ing in­to force of the TTRA Act is avail­able."

The ap­pli­ca­tion for the in­junc­tion came up to­day be­fore Jus­tice Lam­bert Pe­ter­son, who gave strict case man­age­ment di­rec­tions for fil­ing af­fi­davits and le­gal sub­mis­sions and fixed the in­junc­tion hear­ing for June 2, 2023, at 1 pm.

Bap­tiste added that he is pleased that the court will ad­dress their ap­pli­ca­tion for an in­junc­tion to pre­vent the gov­ern­ment from pres­sur­ing pub­lic of­fi­cers in­to mak­ing life-chang­ing de­ci­sions that would harm their ca­reers.

The head of the union is call­ing on all pub­lic of­fi­cers at the In­land Rev­enue Au­thor­i­ty and Cus­toms and Ex­cise Di­vi­sion to cease and de­sist from any and all en­gage­ment with re­spect to the TTRA.