Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE INJUNCTION granted in July this year barring the newly-appointed Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Mayor of Port Antonio, Benny White, and his deputy, the People's National Party's Dexter Roland, from taking up their posts, will remain in force until the Judicial Review Court hears the dispute on December 2.
Ousted Mayor Alston Hunter and his deputy, Rupert Kelly, are asking the Judicial Review Court to declare that their removal by the Portland Parish Council from office on July 15 was in breach of the Parish Council Act and by-laws. They are asking the court to order their reinstatement.
They were removed from office after Hunter adjourned the special meeting called by the secretary of the Parish Council, Franklin Smith, and then staged a walkout along with three other JLP councillors. Hunter had called for the meeting to be adjourned on the grounds that the Council's secretary did not have the authority to call a special meeting. Hunter said that he was adjourning the meeting to seek the advice of the Attorney-General.
After the meeting was adjourned, the secretary reconvened it and the JLP's White was appointed Mayor and chairman of the Portland Parish Council while PNP Councillor Dexter Roland was appointed as White's deputy.
Hunter and Kelly, who are represented by attorney-at-law Arthur Williamsand instructed by Harold Brady and Co., are contending that the notice convening the meeting failed to specify the business to be considered. It is their contention that the procedure adopted at the meeting lacked procedural propriety. Hunter and Kelly said they were personally affected by the decision in that they were duly elected to the posts and had been improperly removed from office in breach of the Parish Councils Act and Parish Council by-laws.
