Judge removes injunction: Medal for army major delayed

A High Court judge has reversed an earlier order which initially directed the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to reinstate the name of an army major to the list of servicemen and women who were to receive their efficiency decoration and medal, starting on Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, Justice Devindra Rampersad granted an injunction to Major Ginelle Pran to reinstate her name to the list of servicemen and women. She was expected to receive her medal at President’s House on Friday.

However, although he granted leave to Pran to pursue her claim against the decision, the judge also gave the CDS an opportunity to be heard on Thursday morning.

After doing so, the judge removed the injunction, instead ordering the matter be fully ventilated in court.

This means Pran did not receive her medal on Friday, but the award will be delayed if she is successful in her claim.

In his ruling, the judge said the CDS, Air Commodore Darryl Daniel, in an affidavit said Pran’s name was “inadvertently” included on the list of recipients for the efficiency medal. He said the CDS should have provided full disclosure giving details on how she was “inadvertently” included on the list.

However, he noted that the CDS cited the sole criteria for excluding the applicant was whether she was of “irreproachable character.”

“The rationale put forward was that the mere existence of the dismissed charges in relation to the 2016 training incident was sufficient to signify that the applicant was not a person of irreproachable character.”

He also said at this early stage of the matter, the court could not “second-guess” what may or may not be irreproachable character for the purposes of the Defence Force.

In response to the CDS’s arguments that Pran had an alternative remedy available to challenge the removal of her name from the list, Rampersad said he saw no practical benefit to refer the matter to the Defence Council when, not only was the council “notoriously slow” in dealing with petitions before it, any decision made was likely to result in further litigation. He said judicial review was applicable in this case.

On the question of the injunction, he said since there was no financial benefit to receiving the medal, it would be more damaging to take it away from her than to delay its award so he ordered its removal.

Pran is represented by attorneys Arden Williams, Shelly-Ann Daniel and Mariah Puckerin and has alleged she has been discriminated against.

Although her name was originally on the administrative order to receive the efficiency award, she was advised on March 12, she would now be excluded because of alleged disciplinary charges against her in 2015 related to her deployment on academic training in Jamaica.

Pran said these charges were eventually summarily dismissed and should not have been taken into account. She also said not only was she qualified for the award because of her exemplary service but she had also been recommended for it by her superiors having served with distinction for more than 12 years.

Her application also said Pran has received ratings of “very good” in her confidential reports and commendations for outstanding work in logistics, her military occupational specialty, for 2018-2021.

But in his affidavit, Daniel said while Pran may have met the qualifying time period threshold to receive the award, and based on her conduct – having been awarded “good/very good/exemplary conduct’ throughout her career she may be qualified, the “character of the claimant does not rise to the standard of being “irreproachable.”

The efficiency decoration and medal parade takes place over four days on March 15, 18, 22 and 25 at President’s House.

In a statement, the Defence Force said it will continue to ensure that due process is followed to bring closure to the matter,

The CDS was represented by attorneys Monica Smith and Savi Ramhit.