(CMR) Grand Court judge Justice Jalil Asif has lamented the slow pace of judicial reviews in the Cayman Islands, calling on both lawyers for applicants and the Crown to play their part to ensure reviews are done in a timely manner.
Justice Asif made the comments during the delivery of his judgment on two motions in the case of Police Inspector Fernando Soto, who had sought judicial review after the Police Service Commission (PSC) denied him a promotion in 2022.
Justice Asif explained that the court's decision in this matter could affect other members of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service and so should have been dealt with more quickly.
“It is self-evident that challenges to public law decisions by way of judicial review are likely to have wider effects than on just the applicant and respondent,” Justice Asif stated.
“If allowed, it has the potential to impact those other officers who were promoted in preference to the Applicant as well as other candidates for promotion who may be deferred if the Applicant’s challenge is successful, and he is promoted, or a promotion exercise has to be run again. It also has a direct impact on the Respondent’s autonomy to make its own decisions as to the allocation of limited resources within its operations,” Justice Asif continued.
The judge said it is, therefore, essential that judicial review proceedings are started promptly, prosecuted swiftly, and determined without delay so that the decision can be upheld or quashed as quickly as possible.
The overall time from commencement to conclusion should not be more than 6 months unless there is good reason, Justice Asif said.
The primary issue before Justice Alif was whether he should prevent the Police Services Commission and the Commissioner of Police from providing any affidavit evidence in opposition to this judicial review application because the PSC failed to file and serve that evidence as required by the Grand Court Rules.
Justice Asif refused to grant the PSC an extension of time to present additional evidence. With the extension not granted, the judge said there was no need to debar the PSC from presenting evidence.
In handing down the ruling, Justice Asif stated, “My view is that it needs to be firmly reiterated in the Cayman Islands that judicial review proceedings must be pursued promptly and brought to a conclusion speedily to provide certainty for those involved in making public law decisions and to avoid the corrosive effect on good administration of long outstanding challenges to previous decisions.”
“There is an alarming tendency in the cases I have seen so far that they are allowed to plod towards a resolution, apparently in the slow lane. This should not happen. It is incumbent on attorneys acting for applicants but also on the Crown to make sure that cases are progressed through the Court as quickly as possible to avoid knock-on effects on good administration and the interests of third parties, as well as in the interests of the applicant and respondent in any given case,” Justice Asif continued.
The judge pointed out that other than in exceptional cases, the final hearing of a judicial review application should be no more than 6 months from the grant of leave and should usually be quicker. If the parties are not going to meet that timescale, they should bring the matter back before the judge at the earliest opportunity to explain the reasons why and obtain directions.
On 1 November 2022, the Police Services Commission denied Soto's application for promotion, which he challenged. Based on this date, Justice Asif said, the application for leave to pursue judicial review ought to have been made promptly and by 31 January 2023 at the latest.
After several communications between Soto and the Police Services Commission to determine whether there was an internal appeal process, on 11 September 2023, some 10 months after the decision, Soto filed his application for leave to pursue judicial review.
On 29 September 2023, Justice Carter determined the application for leave on the papers. Seven days later, on 6 October 2023, Plaintiff issued his notice of motion. The Applicant served it on PSC and the Interested Party, the Commissioner of Police, on 9 October 2023. By virtue of GCR O.53, rr.5(5), the first hearing of the notice of motion should have been fixed promptly for a date after 23 October 2023. However, this was not done.
A judicial review of the denied promotion has not yet been made.
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