Category Archives: Law

Court, General T&T, Law, Media, Politics, UNC

GO AHEAD AND SWEAR

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By Jada Loutoo
June 07 2017 – newsday.co.tt

GO AHEAD AND SWEARNOTHING stands in the way of President Anthony Carmona swearing in two new judges to the High Court.

In a unanimous decision yesterday, Justices of Appeal Allan Mendonca, Nolan Bereaux and Peter Rajkumar said they were satisfied the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) was properly constituted. They also threw out a substantive claim of former United National Congress Senator Devant Maharaj who challenged the constitutionality of the JLSC’s composition, on the basis that the Constitution does not permit more than one retired judge to sit in the commission.
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Court, General T&T, Law, Media, PNM, Politics, Property Tax, UNC

Property Tax forms can be submitted/collected

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Justice Seepersad overruled again: Appeal Court makes new order

By Rickie Ramdass
June 07, 2017 – trinidadexpress.com

THE Court of Appeal has overturned another ruling of Justice Frank Seepersad, this one involving whether the State could continue to accept Property Tax valuation forms from citizens.

This morning, the Appeal Court ruled that Seepersad should not have granted an interim stay on the collection process but that the substantive matter for judicial review is still on.
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Court, General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics, Property Tax

Time-Tabling by the Executive and Legislature in the Property Act

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By Stephen Kangal
May 19, 2017

Stephen KangalA determination of the intention of the Executive and the Legislature as expressed in the time-tabling of the implementation of Act No 18 of 2009 is pivotal to the interpretation of the legislation as well as whether the Act has lapsed through non-implementation and non-observance of the dated law. It is also crucial in assessing whether the current bulldozing action being instituted by the Minister of Finance is legitimate and valid or tantamount to misbeviour in public office.
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General T&T, Law, Property Tax, Recession, Uff Report

Property Tax Axed …judge stops Gov’t

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By Nikita Braxton-Benjamin
May 19, 2017 – trinidadexpress.com

A HIGH COURT judge on Friday granted a stay of implementation and enforcement of the decision by Government that all property owners were required to complete and submit a Valuation Return Form.
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General T&T, Law, People's Partnership, Politics, Property Tax, Recession, UNC

Rowley Erratic on Property Tax Provisions

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By Stephen Kangal
May 14, 2017

Stephen KangalSince the current discussions began on the yet to be known illegal implementation date of Act No 18 of 2009 Prime Minister Rowley has never uttered anything sensible and correct on this issue. He has never read the two mutually inclusive Acts No 17 and 18. He is at loggerheads with the Minister of Finance and his AG.
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General T&T, Law, NJAC, PNM, Politics, Recession

A win-win deal?

Newsday Editorial
May 08, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

TSTT/Massy dealIT MAY well be that the $255 million TSTT/Massy deal announced last Tuesday is beneficial to the State, but there is more to this transaction than just signatures on a dotted line. At least two key issues arise. Firstly, there is need for clarity when it comes to appropriate boundaries of the power of state-owned companies.
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General T&T, Law

The centre must hold

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By Raffique Shah
May 06, 2017

Raffique Shah“Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world;

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed; and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity…”

(The Second Coming, William Yeats, Irish poet laureate, 1919)
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Crime in T&T, Drug Trade, General T&T, Health, International, Law, Murder, Police, Politics, USA

No Crime Plan Without Legalising Drugs

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By Leanna Ganga
April 18, 2017

MarijuanaImagine a society where all drugs are legal and persons can openly purchase any drug of their choice from licensed and regulated distributors, just like they already purchase cigarettes and alcohol.

One may think of such a society in a state of what sociologists call anomie and deviance, with lots of intoxicated people committing criminal acts and the majority of citizens being addicts. This thinking, however, would be inaccurate.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Murder, Police, Politics

Dillon must win the war—or surrender

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By Raffique Shah
April 08, 2017

Raffique ShahIn case you have not noticed, Trinidad and Tobago is gripped by war. Maybe I should rephrase that: there are several wars raging across the country. I wish I could say “civil war”, But there is nothing civil in the barbaric rules of engagement that seem to allow for one side to catch the other off-side and blaze them with bullets, only to have shooters from the home side exact revenge when the opportunity arises.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Health, Law, Politics

Legalise it!

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By Raffique Shah
March 13, 2017

Raffique ShahMany friends, relatives, even family members seem intent on having me “make ah jail” in my winter years: they are pleading with me to use marijuana! It’s not that they want to see me in a ganja-stupor or they will take delight in seeing armed cops swoop down on the geezer and whisk me off to some dank, putrid cell.

No. They want me to use marijuana for medicinal purposes, specifically, to reduce, probably eliminate, the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) with which I have been afflicted for at least five years. Like me, they have watched videos and read of studies and trials conducted by scientists on the use of cannabis in successfully treating PD patients.
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