By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE INSPECTORS' Branch Board of the Jamaica Police Federation has been barred by a Supreme Order from holding any further elections until a review of the elections has been made by the Judicial Review Court.
An injunction was granted yesterday by Justice Bryan Sykes (acting), following an application brought by Inspector Max Marshalleck, who is challenging the elections.
The matter is to come back before the Supreme Court tomorrow when an application will be made for leave to go to the Judicial Review Court.
Inspector Marshalleck, who along with several other Inspectors is challenging the elections, filed a motion in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
ELECTORAL PROCESS
Last week Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes agreed with the Inspectors Branch Board of the Police Federation that he had no authority to interfere in the electoral process of the Jamaica Police Federation and, in particular, the Inspectors' Branch Board of the Federation.
The Inspectors' Branch Board filed a motion in the Supreme Court seeking a ruling in the dispute between the Board and the Commissioner.
However, when the matter came for hearing in chambers before Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe the parties asked for an adjournment to discuss the matter. Following discussions between attorney-at-law Patrick Foster from the Attorney-General's Department, who represented the Commissioner of Police, and attorney-at-law Marvalyn Taylor-Wright, who represented the Inspectors Branch Board, the parties arrived at a consent order.
It was disclosed at the hearing in chambers last week that some members of the Federation had intended to file a suit asking the court to declare the elections to the Inspectors Branch Board and the Police Federation invalid because they were not given the right to make nominations and to vote.
The Police Federation was left without a chairman, a general secretary and a fully constituted Central Executive after the disputed election of officers at its annual conference ended in deadlock on June 1 this year.
