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CCNTV6
  • 11 months ago
The high court quashes the promotion process and orders the Police Commissioner to restart the exercise to promote officers to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Transcript
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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