Pomat granted leave to intervene in application

By ZEDAIAH KANAU
THE Supreme Court has granted Speaker Job Pomat leave to intervene in an application by Opposition Leader Belden Namah questioning the Parliament’s decision to adjourn its sitting from April 21 to Aug 10.
Pomat, through lawyer Robin Kawat, made submissions yesterday before Justice Derek Hartshorn, who granted leave because Pomat had sufficient interest in the matter.
Namah’s lawyer Phillip Tabuchi of Young and Williams lawyers told the court that his client had no objections to Pomat’s application to intervene.
Kawat submitted that Pomat had sufficient interest to intervene because he was well versed with the number of sitting days that Parliament had sat so far after the last general election in 2017 and that he (Pomat) was named in the application as a person whose interests would be directly affected by the interpretation sought by Namah.
Kawat said Order 4 rule 21, 22 and 23 of the Supreme Court rules provided for any person who had an interest in the proceedings to make application to the court for leave to intervene before a application was set for hearing.
Justice Hartshorn, after hearing submissions, granted Pomat leave to intervene.
The substantive application is yet to be heard.
Namah instituted the application under Section 18(1) of the Constitution seeking to declare the decision of the Parliament to adjourn its meeting on April 21 to Aug 10, as unreasonable and subsequently invalid, ineffective and unconstitutional.