By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterMR. JUSTICE Bryan Sykes (acting) will give his decision on Wednesday in the motion brought by a group of inspectors who are challenging the appointment of the Inspectors' Branch Board of the Jamaica Police Federation.
They are challenging the election to the board on the grounds that they did not get an opportunity to nominate members or to participate in the voting process.
The judge also ruled Friday that the injunction, which he granted last Wednesday which bars members of the Inspectors' Branch Board from holding any election or putting forward members to participate in the election to choose the chairman and general secretary of the Jamaica Police Federation, is to remain in force until further orders.
The Jamaica Police Federation cannot hold elections to appoint a new chairman and general secretary until the issue has been determined by the court.
The Inspectors' Branch Board, which is being represented by attorney-at-law Marvalyn Taylor-Wright, is asking the court to throw out the motion brought by the inspectors because it had nothing to do with the electoral process. The board is asking the judge to find that it should not be named as a defendant to the motion.
Attorney-at-law Seymour Stewart, who, represents the claimants, including several inspectors from the Commissioner's Office and inspectors stationed islandwide, are asking that they be given the go-ahead to get an order declaring the appointment of the Inspectors' Branch Board null and void.
Last week, Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes agreed with the Inspectors' Branch Board of the Jamaica 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 had filed a motion in the Supreme Court seeking a ruling in the dispute between the Board and the Commissioner.
The Police Federation has been 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.
