Tax auditors win right to promotion hearing

THE COURT of Appeal on Monday granted a declaration that almost two dozen field auditors at the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) are qualified and eligible for consideration for promotion.

Justices Prakash Moosai, Judith Jones and Andre des Vignes on Monday upheld the group’s appeal in which they contended they were bypassed for promotion despite being more qualified than their colleagues, who were promoted in 2015.

They contended they had a legitimate expectation that they would be considered over their colleagues who were less qualified since they all obtained professional qualifications from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

The judge who assessed their claims held that they were not entitled to promotion because of their accounting qualifications.

In their lawsuit, they referred to correspondence from Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) and the Director of Personnel Administration in which both senior public servants assured the auditors that they would receive special consideration based on their professional qualifications.

They argued that the Public Service Commission acted unfairly when it failed to act in accordance with the previous assurances.

In delivering the unanimous decision, Moosai said the courts do not sit as a Court of Appeal from decisions of the PSC and were not concerned with the merits of candidates for promotion.

“The courts are, however, concerned to ensure that public bodies carry out the functions that the relevant legislation assigns to them,” he said.

Moosai added that in this case, the evidence had revealed that the PSC in 2014 promoted not only those who had professional qualifications, but also others who did not.

“In that regard the approach taken by the PSC was fundamentally flawed and I so declare,” he said, before sending the matter back to the PSC to review the eligibility of those who have ACCA qualifications.

The field auditors were represented by Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and attorneys Devesh Maharaj and Kandace Bharath, while the commission, CPO and chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue were represented by Senior Counsel Russell Martineau and Keisha Prosper.