12 Mar 2013

Fiji court told it cannot hear challenge to political parties decree

11:06 am on 12 March 2013

The Fiji Attorney General's Office has argued in the High Court that the court cannot accept or entertain the legal challenge filed against the Registration of Political Parties Decree by the proposed Fiji Labour Party.

The lawyer for the proposed Labour Party, Anand Singh, has made submissions that part of the decree breaches international conventions like the United Nations Convention on Human Rights and the Trade Union Convention.

He said they are not challenging the powers vested in the President, or the government of the day, but parts of the decree that he says are inconsistent.

Fiji Village reports the acting Solicitor General, Sharvada Sharma, as saying the case cannot proceed as the court is established under the Administration of Justice Decree.

The decree states that no court shall have the jurisdiction to accept, hear, determine, or in any other way entertain, challenged to the validity or legality of any decrees made by the President from April 2009.