00:00High Court Judge Frank Sipisad today quashed the promotion exercise being
00:04conducted by the Commission of Police for promotion to the rank of Assistant
00:09Superintendent of Police. It's all rooted in the legal challenge brought by
00:14suspended Inspector of Police Mark Hernandez who was one of the applicants.
00:19Justice Sipisad said in his ruling that every restrictive regulatory
00:24requirement of the promotion process was disregarded and no procedural step can
00:29be taken to cure the defects and illegality which ensued. He said quote
00:35the breaches were numerous, substantial, seemingly deliberate, pervasive and
00:39profound and quote lamenting that neither the Commissioner nor the
00:44contracted party took any step to correct the breaches. Acknowledging the
00:48many officers who may be close to retirement and stand to be adversely
00:52affected, Justice Sipisad says quote the culpability for their
00:56disappointment must fall at the feet of the Commissioner as she failed to
01:01discharge her constitutional obligation in relation to promotions within the
01:05First Division end quote. The court said any meritless generated from this
01:10process would be fundamentally flawed and cannot be utilized. Sipisad said
01:15quote the Commissioner failed to effectively and efficiently discharge
01:19her function under section 123A of the Constitution and she together with the
01:25contracted party performed a great disservice to the taxpayers of this
01:30country and to the officers of the TTPS who applied to be promoted to the rank
01:35of Assistant Superintendent of Police end quote. The judge called for authorities
01:41to stop placing square pegs in round holes as those appointed to high
01:45offices he says must have the capacity and capability to discharge their
01:50constitutional obligations. Sipisad said the events point to an evident
01:54administrative crisis in the TTPS adding that radical changes are
01:59urgently required. The judge ruled that consultant Odyssey Consult Inc. limited
02:05was irrational unreasonable illegal to appoint persons to the assessment panels
02:10who did not possess the appropriate skill expertise and qualification in
02:15policing. As it related to Hernandez the court found none of those persons who
02:21interviewed him had any skills expertise and qualifications in
02:25policing. Justice Sipisad says the unauthorized composition of the panels
02:30further compromised the process. He also ordered the Police Commissioner to
02:35restart the entire promotion exercise and to do so in accordance with the
02:39Police Service Act and the Police Service regulations. One of Hernandez's
02:43contentions is that the first component of the process an appraisal system gave
02:48everyone the same universal score of outstanding. In his ruling Sipisad
02:54declared that settled practice to award each police officer seeking to be
02:59promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police an outstanding
03:04grade to be irrational unreasonable and illegal. The court found the applicants
03:09were not objectively assessed and instead they were all awarded that grade
03:15outstanding to satisfy the promotion appraisal component of the exercise. In
03:19addition, the court is not satisfied that the proper performance management
03:23appraisal system reports were used and was at a loss as to what methodology was
03:30instead adopted to invite applicants to progress to the examination stage of
03:35the promotion process. Hernandez also complained that inspectors who did not
03:39achieve the 50% mark were permitted to advance to the final stage and evidence
03:45before the court showed 12 who did the written assessment moved on to the oral
03:50assessment stage without attaining a score of 50% or above. DCP of
03:56Administration Natasha George was criticized for exceeding her
03:59jurisdiction by erroneously informing the contracted party to abolish the
04:03past mark for the written component of the assessment process. Sipisad said
04:08quote the commissioner retains the constitutional obligation to ensure
04:12that the promotion assessment process is conducted in a lawful and authorized
04:16manner and quote the failure to follow due process. Sipisad described as
04:21outrageous and unfathomable that the breach was not detected by the
04:26commissioner before the oral assessments were conducted. The
04:30mishandling of the promotion exercise, he said, filled the court with a sense
04:34of dread as a flawed process can result in ill-suited officers promoted within
04:40the First Division which can never serve the public interest.
04:45Rupanarayan, TV6 News
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