Griffith: No one told me about court order

COMMISSIONER of Police Gary Griffith says his office could not act on the court’s order to reclassify the leave of former Cpl Ashram Pariagsingh, as neither he, his office nor the legal unit of the Police Service were informed of the judge’s direction.

In a statement on Tuesday – the second one on the issue – Griffith said arms of the State external to the police did not forward the court’s order until last Friday, when the matter was scheduled for hearing on Monday.

The statement said when the commissioner’s office received it, he ensured that his office was represented at Monday’s hearing.

“Therefore, it was never a case of the Office of the Commissioner refusing to adhere to a court order; as this court order was never forwarded in the first place.

“This situation now highlights major administrative deficiencies in such matters and requires a review by all arms involved in these processes to prevent such recurrences,” the statement said.

However, in court on Monday, Justice Frank Seepersad pointed out that “there was no excuse” for compliance with his order, since the commissioner was represented at the trial.

“He was a party to the litigation,” Seepersad said after being asked to extend the time for compliance to a month.

He gave the commissioner 14 days. The judge said while he acknowledged the demands of the office of the commissioner, there was no justification for the failure to comply with a mandatory order of the court.

In his lawsuit, Pariagsingh challenged the commissioner’s decision to reclassify his sick leave without any explanation.

According to his lawsuit, his sick leave was reclassified as injury leave with pay. Three years later, acting Commissioner Stephen Williams reversed this, classified the leave as extended sick leave with no pay and told Pariagsingh he would have to repay all his salaries and benefits from May 2012-March 2016.

Seepersad ordered the commissioner to reclassify the policeman’s leave as injury leave with pay.

In February, Pariagsingh’s attorneys, Anand Ramlogan, SC, and Alvin Pariagsingh, filed an application to have the court’s order enforced within 14 days and to find the commissioner in contempt.

Seepersad said it would give the court no pleasure to send Griffith to jail if his order was not complied with.

Griffith told Newsday on Monday that he authorised the reclassification and signed off on it.

Tuesday’s statement by the police also said, “For its part, and through the restructuring process of its legal unit, the TT Police Service is reviewing its own system to improve its efficiency in meeting deadlines and addressing the backlog of outstanding matters inherited by the CoP, while treating with present legal challenges it receives.

“Additionally, if other arms do not forward these documents to the TTPS, a legal representative from the TTPS will attend court to mitigate against such consequences being brought against the Office of Commissioner of Police.”

The statement said Pariagsingh’s case was one of more than 150 court matters and, given that some of those cases had not yet been ruled on, the police legal unit intended to have the matters addressed before they were determined.

“Commissioner Griffith, has inherited a significant number of legal challenges and has since begun the immediate restructuring of the legal unit, in an effort to address these matters.”

The statement also noted several legal challenges faced by the legal unit including: over 300 disciplinary matters against police officers who were on suspension and whose cases had not yet been heard before a tribunal; police officers who were not attending court as required, so that matters are dismissed for want of prosecution; and over 150 cases including freedom of information requests, classification of sick leave and injury leave and outstanding promotions.