The Suva High Court has ruled that Fiji president Ratu Josefa Iloilo's action in dismissing Mahendra Chaudhry as prime minister in 2001 was illegal and draconian.
Justice Anthony Gates has also ruled that the president was wrong in dissolving parliament and appointing Laisenia Qarase and others as ministers in a caretaker administration.
The Daily Post reports that Justice Gates handed down the ruling when giving judgement on the legality of the appointment of eight members of the Sugar Advisory Council by the then caretaker minister for sugar, Kaliopate Tavola.
Justice Gates says the president's actions were contrary to the provisions of the 1997 Constitution which had been restored by the courts several days earlier in March 2001
He says the president could only have dismissed Mr Chaudhry as prime minister if his government had lost the confidence of the House of Representatives, but there was no evidence of this.
Justice Gates says the Constitution demands an objective test for the loss of support or confidence.
He says since the dismissal of Mr Chaudhry was unlawful, the appointment of his replacement was unlawful.
Justice Gates says there was no dire necessity to veer off from the constitution, to dismiss the prime minister and his cabinet unlawfully, and to appoint another to dissolve the parliament that the people had democratically elected.
