By Staff Writer
The Supreme Court will hear this week the motion by the President of the Lands and Titles Court to declare unlawful the prohibiting of the Ministry staff from providing administrative work for the court.
LTC President, Fepulea’i Atilla M. Ropati, also wants the court to declare the same actions by Justice Minister Matamua Vasati Pulufana ‘ a serious violation of the doctrine of the separations of powers.”
The court hearing starts this week on Monday 14 March 2022, in what began as an exchange of letters started by the Minister of Justice who wrote to the Acting Registrar requesting ‘..that all hearings be put on hold…”
Her letter of 15 February 2022 was copied to the LTC President who responded in what went on to become a ‘War of Letters.’
Minister Matamua in her third and most recent letter, on 28 February 2022, worried this time about the ‘ existence of three different versions of the LTA 2020 which appear to have been signed by the Head of State.”
She considered it ‘ imprudent and irresponsible’ for the LTC proceedings to start ‘… while the different versions of the LTA Act are under review in an inquiry by a select Parliament committee.
The change of emphasis veered off from concerns about the inconsistences in several sections of the LTA 2020 Act fully clarified by President Fepulea’i in his response letters to the Minister.
The Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa, rushed to the defense of her Cabinet Minister during the week in response to unhappy public reactions to the Lands and Titles Court proceedings at a standstill.
PM Fiame rejected any intrusion by Justice Minister Matamua Vasati Pulufana into the independence of the Land and Titles Court.
As far as the Govt. leader is concerned her Justice Minister is in her rights under the Rule Of Law for court proceedings to be suspended.
Opposition Secretary, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, disagreed. He fully supported the arguments by the LTC President that the pathway for the Minister to stop the sittings of court is to table an amendment in Parliament of the LTA 2020.
“This is an existing law passed in Parliament and in its present form it cannot be stopped by the Minister or anyone,” HRPP party secretary asserted.
An overview summary of the sequence of responses by the LTC President objected to the claims as :
“ …by requesting to put on hold all operations of the LTC and informing the President and Judges that their appointments have been revoked without due process …is encroaching of the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution…”.
“…request to put on hold the implementation of law is a direct breach of the law, and encroaching on the supremacy of Parliament and the independence of the Judiciary to implement and interpret the law.”
At the heart of this particular objection by the President was the inability of the LTC to function as a Court without proper staff support.
Fepulea’i was compelled to ask the Minister “… it is my sincere hope that you will reconsider your position and allow the LTC staff to provide this esteemed Court support to continue scheduled hearings.”
The LTC president in response to what he felt was an encouraging show of support from the Minister to his letter decided that court proceedings will be underway in March onwards.
But it was not the case when the Minister in her letter of 24 February2020 made it sternly clear she stands firm on her earlier decision and the Ministry staff will not be involved.
An end to this running legal dispute is now with the Supreme Court to rule on starting this week.
An awaited area of interest is what likely bearings the Parliament review committee findings may have on the ‘before and after’ of any ruling of the court.
A review report is expected to be tabled for debate in Parliament in the next session at the end of this month, March.
A report by the Clerk of Parliament has already taken responsibility for the different versions the Prime Minister highlighted in defense of the Minister of Justice.