Court to rule on Baki’s appeal

National, Uncategorized

By DEMAS TIEN
THE Waigani National Court is expected to rule on Aug 1 whether to grant leave to Police Commissioner Gari Baki to review two National Executive Council decisions to set up the Investigation Task Force Sweep (ITFS) in 2011.
Lawyer Stanley Poga, representing Baki, asked the court yesterday to grant leave to his client to review the NEC decisions on Aug 11, 2011, to establish ITFS and on July 23, 2013, which permitted the establishment of a permanent office for ITFS.
Poga told the court, presided by Justice Leka Nablu, that the NEC had no power to establish an investigative body outside the police force to carry out investigations, lay charges and prosecute offences independently without being accountable to the office of the commissioner, because that power was with Parliament and the commissioner.
He said the NEC had acted beyond its powers and breached Section 197 (2) of the Constitution, which stated that it was a function of the police force to lay, prosecute or withdraw charges in respect of offences and the members of the police force were not subject to direction or control by any person outside the force.
He said the NEC’s conduct breached Section 198 of the Constitution, which stated that the commissioner of police shall be responsible for the superintendence, efficient organisation and control of the force in accordance with an act of Parliament.
The State, through lawyer Tiffany Twivey, did not oppose nor consent to the application for leave.
She said Baki had standing to apply for a judicial review because he was the commissioner and that there were valid legal issues to be determined which included whether the NEC could control the police operational issues and whether the National Court could judicially review NEC decisions when the sole ground was that the decisions were unconstitutional.