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A High Court Judge has ordered the Public Service Commission (PSC) to reconsider retroactively promoting a former fire officer who had been bypassed for promotion.
Justice Frank Seepersad made the order as he delivered a 14-page judgement in favour of Rudolph Jones in the Port-of-Spain High Court on Tuesday.
While he ordered the commission to reconsider the issue, Seepersad did not order the PSC to automatically promote Jones.
If it eventually elects to do so, the promotion would mean that Jones would get an increased pension. Jones retired in 2016.
In his lawsuit, Jones had claimed that the commission refused to promote him retroactivity after retirement although it had done so for some of his colleagues in the past.
“The evidence established that the issue of retroactive appointments is not fixed and there is a certain degree of flexibility,” Seepersad said in his judgment.
Jones enlisted as a fire officer in 1982 and retired in August 2016 at the rank of Fire Sub Station Officer (FFOS). For seven years before his retirement, the commission had him and other officers of his rank acting in the role of Fire Station Officer (FSO).
Several months after he retired, the commission promoted 34 of his former colleagues, who were less qualified and experienced.
In his judgment, Seepersad criticised the commission for failing to make promotions for almost seven years.
The commission had claimed that it was delayed by the failure of the Chief Fire Officer to provide it with a merit list for promotions.
“Such a lax and inactive position must be condemned, but, under the existing system, its inaction was permissible as it retains control over its process and virtue of its own regulation, had to await receipt of the list from the Chief Fire Officer,” Seepersad said.
Describing the situation as unacceptable, Seepersad suggested that reform is overdue and necessary.
Seepersad said: “The inaction of the commission, the absence of the administrative accountability, the archaic nature of service commission’s operation and the reprehensible delay in the discharge of its mandate, demonstrate the need for an urgent review of the role and efficacy of the commission and of Service Commissions in general.”
“If, as a society, the goal is productivity and progress, then the antiquated and inherited structures and systems of government have to be replaced,” he said.