THE EDITOR, Sir:
YOUR EDITORIAL on Friday, October 10, referred to the recent award of $4.5 billion plus interest to the National Transport Cooperative Society (NTCS). The editorial claimed that "in a similar case in Grenada the Privy Council decided that the Minister of Finance (was) personally liable for paying an award."
It appears that you were referring to the 2001 decision of the Privy Council in an appeal brought by the estate of former Prime Minister Eric Gairy against the Government of Grenada. The comments in your editorial are incorrect in two critical respects. In the first place, the Privy Council did not order, as you state, that the Minister of Finance was personally liable.
After observing that it was the Minister of Finance who had to authorise withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund, the Privy Council ordered that "the Minister of Finance shall take all steps necessary to procure that payment be made... forthwith". There was, therefore, no question of personal liability.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the facts of the Gairy case bear no resemblance whatever to the NTCS award. In 1979, the "People's Revolu-tionary Government" confiscated Mr. Gairy's property without compensation. He sued for compensation, and in 1994, a consent order was made that a certain sum be paid to him. The order stated that the sum should be paid promptly. The Govern-ment paid less than a third of the money and the issue of the Privy Council was whether the Court could order the Government (through the Minister) to pay the balance.
In their judgment, the Privy Council noted that:
a) There was no dispute as to the balance owing. In fact, the Government had agreed to the specific sum;
b) The claim arose from a breach of Mr. Gairy's constitutional right not to be deprived of his property without compensation. The Court had special duties and powers to provide an effective remedy for such a breach;
c) Seven years had passed since the consent order that the agreed sum be paid promptly, and it had still not been paid.
Our present circumstances are entirely different. Not only is the NTCS's award not an agreed sum, but it is being challenged in court on what, in my respectful view, are good and substantial grounds. Any comparison to the Gairy case is therefore misconceived.
I am, etc.,
B.ST. MICHAEL HYLTON
Solicitor-General
