Constitution

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TITLE 9

MISCELLANEOUS

224. Where under this Constitution any provision may be made by rules of court, rules for the purpose may be made by the authority for the time being empowered generally, by law in force in Guyana, to make rules of court in relation to civil proceedings in the High Court or, in so far as the provision relates to the bringing of any appeal to, or the institution of other proceedings in, or the practice and procedure of, the Court of Appeal, by the authority so empowered in relation to civil proceedings in that Court.

225. (1) Where it is provided in this Constitution that this article

shall apply to any office, a person holding such office (in this article referred to as "the office") shall not be removed therefrom or suspended from the exercise of the functions thereof except in accordance with the provisions of this article; and the prescribed authority for the purpose of paragraph (4) or (6) shall, in relation to any office, be the authority prescribed for that purpose by the provision of this Constitution by which this article is applied to that office.

(2) The officer may be removed from office only for inability to discharge the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause whatsoever) or for misbehaviour.

Rules of

court.

Removal from

office of

certain

persons.

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(3) The officer shall be removed from office by the President if the question of his removal from office has been referred to a tribunal appointed under this article and the tribunal has recommended to the President that the officer ought to be removed from office for inability as aforesaid or for misbehaviour.

(4) If the prescribed authority advises the President that the question of removing the officer from office under this article ought to be investigated then -

(a) the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, in appointing a tribunal which shall consist of a Chairman and not less than two other members, selected by the Judicial Service Commission from among persons who hold or have held office as a judge of a court having unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in some part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from any such court or who are qualified to be admitted to practice in Guyana as attorneys-at- law and have been so qualified for such period as is prescribed by Parliament for the purposes of subparagraph (b) of article 129 (1) in relation to the office of Puisne Judge; and

(b) that tribunal shall enquire into the matter and report on the facts thereof to the President and recommend to him whether the officer ought to be removed under this article.

(5) The provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act as in force immediately before the commencement of this Constitution shall, subject to the provisions of this article and of article 197(9), apply as nearly as may be in relation to tribunals appointed under this article, or, as the context may require, to the members thereof as they

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apply in relation to Commissions or Commissioners appointed under that Act, and in such application shall have effect as if they formed part of this Constitution.

(6) If the question of removing the officer from office has been referred to a tribunal under this article, the President, acting in accordance with the advice of the prescribed authority, may suspend the officer from performing the functions of his office, and any such suspension may at any time be revoked by the President, acting in accordance with such advice as aforesaid, and shall in any case cease to have effect if the tribunal recommends to the President that the officer should not be removed from office.

226. (1) Save as otherwise provided in this Constitution, in the

exercise of its functions under this Constitution a Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.

(2) Subject to affirmative resolution of the National Assembly, a commission shall make rules, relating to the procedure of the commission; and until such rules are made, the commission shall regulate its own procedure.

(3) A Commission may, subject to the next following

paragraph, act notwithstanding any vacancy in its membership or the absence of any member and its proceedings shall not be invalidated by the presence or participation of any person not entitled to be present at or to participate in those proceedings.

(4) Any question for decision by a Commission shall be

determined by a majority of the votes of the members of the Commission present and voting at a meeting of the Commission at which a quorum is present, and if on any question the votes are equally divided the Chairman or other member presiding shall have a casting vote in addition to his original vote:

Provided that, where the votes are equally divided on the question whether any power to remove a public officer from his office should be exercised, the Chairman or other member presiding shall not have a casting vote and the Commission shall be deemed to have decided that that power should not be exercised.

(5) For the purposes of the preceding paragraph a

Powers and

procedure of Commissions.

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quorum shall consist, in the case of the Elections Commission, of the Chairman and not less than four members, two of whom have been appointed by the President in his own deliberate judgment and two from among members appointed on the advice of the Leader of the Opposition tendered in accordance with article 161 (3) (b) :

Provided that if at any stage of a duly summoned meeting a quorum is not present, due to the absence of members therefrom -

(i) without just cause, such just cause being determined by the Chairman, the meeting shall stand adjourned to a day not later than two calendar days; or

(ii) in the case of the declaration of the results of the election of the President, the meeting shall stand adjourned to the following day, at the same time and place and notice of such adjournment shall be given to the absent members, and if at the adjourned meeting a quorum is not present, the members then present, being not less than four including the Chairman, shall be deemed to constitute a quorum and any decision made at that or any such meeting shall be valid in law and binding.

(6) Any question whether-

(a) a Commission has validly performed any function vested in it by or under this Constitution;

(b) any member of a Commission or any other person has validly performed any function delegated to such member or person by a Commission in pursuance of the provisions of this Constitution; or

(c) any member of a Commission or any other person has validly performed any other function in relation to the work of the Commission or in relation to any such

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function as is referred to in the preceding subparagraph, shall not be enquired into in any court.

(7) In this article, except as otherwise provided or required by the context, the expression "Commission" means the Elections Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Teaching Service Commission, or the Police Service Commission:

Provided that (without prejudice to the power of Parliament to make provision in relation to the functions of the Elections Commission) in the preceding paragraph that expression does not include the Elections Commission.

227. Notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution relating

to the making of appointments to, removal of persons from, or the vacation of, any office, Parliament may provide for the imposition of disqualification for any office prescribed by Parliament on any person convicted by a court of an offence relating to excitement of hostility or ill-will against any person or class of persons on the grounds of his or their race.

Disqualifica-

tion for office of persons

exciting racial

hostility.