By Andre Bagoo Tuesday, September 8 2009

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WHAT'S THAT?: Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the construction sector Professor John Uff yesterday listens carefully to a question from a r...

CHAIRMAN of the Commission of Inquiry into Udecott and the construction sector Professor John Uff yesterday vowed to complete his report as he declared the inquiry proceedings to be legal under the common-law, notwithstanding a legal glitch over its non-publication in the Gazette. Uff made this declaration even as he announced the axing of the hearings on the Cleaver Heights housing project which had been carded for this week.

“We will continue our work and proceed to produce our work under whatever circumstances obtain when we come to finalise it,” Uff declared at a press conference held at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain. “The report we will issue will be as final as we can make it.”

Noting that the legality of the inquiry had been brought under question after it emerged that it was never gazetted in conformance of Section 15 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, Uff argued that under the common-law the proceedings remain legal.

“It does not follow that the proceedings which have taken place over eight weeks have been ‘illegal’ or of no effect,” the chairman said in a statement he read out. “The inquiry which has taken place remains perfectly valid under the common-law as an ad hoc inquiry into the issues set out in the commission issued by His Excellency the President.”

In a question and answer session afterwards, Uff added, “there are countries where you can’t cross the road unless there is a law that says you are permitted to do so. This is not one of those countries. As far as I understand it, the law in this country may prohibit you from doing things but you don’t need a law to allow you to do things. I think it’s the same in the United Kingdom. I certainly have personal experience in having chaired a common-law inquiry in England.” Speaking with reporters at the end of yesterday’s press conference, Uff noted that there was a precedent for common-law commissions of inquiry. He cited the United Kingdom’s 1996 Yorkshire Water Inquiry, of which he was chairman.

Uff called the gazetting issue “a formality which can be cured at any time.” But he noted that while he was of the view that the proceedings were valid there were contrary opinions as to how the gazetting blunder could be remedied. “This matter is still under review,” he added.

But given the uncertainty on the issue, Uff indicated, the fourth and final phase of hearings on the controversial Cleaver Heights housing project would best be dealt with by a fresh and separate commission of inquiry.

“A fresh commission (on Cleaver Heights) can be issued and gazetted at any time. That has not happened and as a result we do not intend to take any action with regard to those issues unless invited to accept a fresh commission,” Uff said. He added of Cleaver Heights, “that issue is now dead.”

Uff revealed that notwithstanding calls on his part for the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to make its submissions on the project, up until yesterday morning the HDC had not done so. He made no reference to questions over commissioner Kenneth Sirju which led to his recusal from the Cleaver Heights issue last week.

But in relation to the other aspects of the inquiry, Uff vowed to complete the work of the commission on the basis of hearings that have taken place thus far.

“There is no reason why the report should not now be prepared as it would have been had there been no defect in our appointment, and this is what we intend to do. The report will be prepared and sent to the President and can be retrospectively validated along with the proceedings themselves.”

“In setting out how we now intend to proceed, we are very mindful that there have been eight weeks of hearings with many parties having given their time and effort, and many who have also borne substantial legal costs. We have heard evidence and submissions running to many thousands of transcript pages. And the Government has borne the cost of providing all the facilities and personnel for the inquiry. None of that can be undone.

“It goes without saying that many of these parties, as well as the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, will want the inquiry to be brought to a conclusion at the earliest possible time; and that is what we now intend to do.”

Uff noted that the gazetting defect only came to his notice over the last weekend.

“The defect in our appointment came to my notice only over the last weekend, up to which point I and my colleagues were preparing for the short final hearing...It appears that the defect came to the notice of others one or two days earlier, but the events which led to its discovery are unknown to me. Likewise, I can throw no light at all on how the omission to gazette the appointments came about.”