Solicitor General, Sharvada Sharma has been suspended by President Jioji Konrote after an allegation of misbehaviour however details of the specific allegation are not revealed as yet.
This has been confirmed to fijivillage by Chief Justice Kamal Kumar who is the Chairman of the Judicial Services Commission.
Chief Justice Kumar says he cannot comment on who made the allegation of misbehaviour against the Solicitor General however a tribunal will now be appointed by the President to hear the case.
He confirms that the Judicial Services Commission met yesterday and advised the President to act under sections 112 and 116 of the Constitution regarding the Solicitor General.
Under section 116 (5) of the Constitution, the Solicitor General shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission following consultation by the Judicial Services Commission with the Attorney General.
Under section 116 (6), the President may, on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission following consultation by it with the Attorney General, appoint a person to act as the Solicitor General during any period or during all periods, when the office of the Solicitor General is vacant or when the Solicitor General is absent from duty or from Fiji or is, for any reason, unable to perform the functions of office.
Section 104 (1) states that the Judicial Services Commission shall consist of the Chief Justice, who is to be the chairperson; the President of the Court of Appeal; the Permanent Secretary responsible for justice; a legal practitioner to be appointed by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice following consultation by the Chief Justice with the Attorney General and who has not less than 15 years post-admission practice; and has not been found guilty of any disciplinary proceeding involving legal practitioners whether in Fiji or abroad, including any proceeding by the Independent Legal Services Commission or any proceeding under the law governing legal practitioners, barristers and solicitors prior to the establishment of the Independent Legal Services Commission; and a person, not being a legal practitioner, appointed by the President on the advice of the Chief Justice following consultation by the Chief Justice with the Attorney-General.
Section 112 (3)(a) of the Constitution states that the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Services Commission, shall appoint in the case of alleged misbehaviour — a tribunal, consisting of a chairperson and not less than 2 other members, selected from amongst persons who hold or have held high judicial office in Fiji or in another country.
We have sent questions to Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on the reason for the Solicitor General’s suspension and allegations of misbehaviour. We have also asked him whether the appointment of an Acting Solicitor General has been made. He is yet to comment.
Fijivillage has also sent questions to Sharvada Sharma however he is yet to respond.
We have also sent questions to the Office of the President.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had made comments at the end of last month that he was disturbed by the submissions made by the legal counsels of the Supervisor of Elections and SODELPA MP, Niko Nawaikula to the Court of Disputed Returns.
Sayed-Khaiyum had said in a press conference that the lawyers for Nawaikula and the Supervisor of Elections did not do a good job. The lawyers for the Supervisor of Elections was Solicitor General Sharvada Sharma, Seema Chand and S Kant while Nawaikula’s lawyers were Jon Apted, Graham Leung and Sevuloni and Simione Valenitabua. Sayed-Khaiyum had said he had listened to the submissions that were made and none of the legal counsels specifically spoke about the implications of having the correct name or one name registered.
He said the Constitution specifically says that there should be free and fair elections.
The Attorney General then questioned how can there be free and fair elections if someone has the ability to register their name more than once.
Chief Justice Kamal Kumar had ruled in the case that Niko Nawaikula was to be reinstated as a Member of Parliament from 23rd July, 2021.
While delivering the judgement in that case, Chief Justice Kumar said that based on the current law, Nawaikula was not legally required to provide his name on his birth certificate to be registered as a voter.
Chief Justice Kumar had said the law does not require use of birth certificate names, and allows use of names other than the birth certificate name.
He had ruled that the Supervisor’s actions in removing Nawaikula’s name from the Register of Voters is unlawful and wrongful.
One of Nawaikula’s lawyers, Jon Apted had argued that the Supervisor of Elections was wrong in law.
They pointed out the Electoral Registration Act did not say that the birth certificate name was to be provided and the registration forms approved by the Electoral Commission did not say that you have to use the birth certificate name and Nawaikula had answered the questions on the form truthfully.
We have also sent questions to Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem. He is yet to comment.
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations
