New Ombudsman tackles 14-year-old complaint, says delay 'unconscionable'

FINDING the delay “unconscionable,” one of the first order of business for Ombudsman Rajmanlal Joseph is a 14-year-old complaint of a former temporary registration clerk of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) who was injured on the job.

When appointed in June, Joseph told Newsday he intended to deal with old complaints personally.

In the complaint by the former EBC employee, Joseph summoned the Solicitor General on September 15, to appear before him to give evidence in Crystal Seecharan’s matter.

The hearing will take place on October 6.

The Solicitor General advises the State on all civil law cases and represents it in all constitutional and civil proceedings in the courts.

The summon to the solicitor general came after repeated attempts were made for information on Seecharan’s matter since it had been referred to that department in 2014, by the then chief elections officer.

Seecharan’s complaint stems from injuries she received on October 27, 2007, when she allegedly slipped and fell while at the registration office for Arima/Piarco, injuring her back, left foot and head.

She reported the matter to the then acting chief election officer five days later, asking how the commission intended to treat her injury since it took place on the job.

After she got no response, Seecharan sought the assistance of the office of the Ombudsman which wrote to the chief election officer on January 24, 2008, outlining the complaint and asking for a response.

After numerous correspondence between both offices, there was no resolution of the matter. Eventually, in 2014, the chief elections officer referred the matter to the solicitor general for determination.

Attempts by the office of the Ombudsman, including directly writing to the solicitor general, for information on the issue of liability and compensation, were unsuccessful as the latter has failed to respond to any of the queries, Seecharan’s case file revealed.

It also noted that the current ombudsman, on review of the file, found the delay “unconscionable” and wrote to the solicitor general requesting a response in 14 days.

By September 14, no response was received and a summons was issued for the solicitor general to appear before him to give evidence in the complaint.