CRC Wants Appeal Hearing Moved To Suva

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SUVA: Fiji's Constitution Review Commission (CRC) has filed an application in the High Court at Lautoka to have its appeal against disbandment transferred to Suva, the Fiji Sun reports.

A date is yet to be set for the hearing of the application by High Court judge Justice Anthony Gates.

A legal source yesterday said that state proceedings had been filed on two important issues.

One was the need to transfer the case to Suva because the official headquarters of the CRC and the Fiji Labour Party [which filed the case against the CRC] were based in Suva.

The second point raised in the application is the delivery of Justice Gates' decision.

The source said the ruling that Justice Gates made last week contained no reasons on why he made the decision.

It is understood that the commission's legal counsel have found it hard to appeal against Justice Gates' decision because of the absence of legal reasons.

In his ruling on January 17, Justice Gates said the CRC was illegitimate and carried no mandate to make changes to the supreme law of the land.

He said the CRC was unlawfully constituted and did not have the power to draw money from taxpayers as well as make reforms.

+++niuswire

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