Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE MINISTER of Agriculture Roger Clarke, has been ordered by the Court of Appeal to make full disclosure of all the applications made by conch exporters under the Aquaculture Act. The disclosure is to be made to DYC Fishing Ltd., one of the leading exporters of conch which has been engaged in a legal battle with the Government for more than five years.
DYC Fishing, which is operated by Kingston businessman Frank Cox, had appealed against a Supreme Court ruling which had turned down its application for full disclosure.
In allowing the appeal, the court sent back DYC Fishing's case to the Supreme Court for a rehearing.
RISK OF LOSING EU MARKET
DYC Fishing is contending that if the Government is not carrying out its responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the law and the convention entered into with the European Union then the country runs the risk of losing the European market. DYC Fishing claims further that the exporters in the conch industry as well as the regulators must operate in conformity with the law.
Justice Basil Reid heard DYC Fishing's motion in the Full Court last year and turned down its application for full disclosure.
R.N.A. Henriques, Q.C., and attorneys-at-law Christopher Dunkley and Marina Sakhno-Gill argued that the judge in refusing to grant the order fundamentally constrained himself from adjudicating fairly and completely on the issues before him.
The Court of Appeal, comprising Justice Paul Harrison, Justice Algernon Smith and Justice Howard Cooke, agreed that full disclosure would facilitate a fair hearing and allowed the appeal.
