Shuttleworth filing affidavit of urgency in DRMA constitutional fight
Published:Friday | November 5, 2021 | 12:05 AMBarbara Gayle/Contributor
An affidavit of urgency is to be filed in the Supreme Court in the constitutional motion brought by the religious organisation Freedom Come Ministries, which has taken the Government to court over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Rev Jeffrey Shuttleworth, pastor of Tarrant Baptist Church, is a director of the company, which is located at 151 Molynes Road, St Andrew.
When the case came for hearing in chambers on Wednesday, attorneys-at-law Hugh Wildman and Indira Patmore, who are representing the claimant, said that there was the need for the matter to be heard expeditiously.
They outlined to the judge that the restrictions continue to affect the rights of their client. They said further that the restrictions have wider implications for the Government’s management of the pandemic.
The attorneys submitted that not only the rights to religious practice were being breached but other constitutional rights are being affected.
The attorneys said the court must devise a mechanism to have the matter tried speedily.
Justice Sonia Bertram-Linton then ordered that an affidavit of urgency be filed and set the matter for a first hearing on March 24 next year.
In the suit filed in the Supreme Court in April, the company is contending that the Disaster Risk Management Act is breaching its constitutional rights.
The company is seeking declarations that the act breaches some of its democratic rights, including the right to worship.
Freedom Come Ministries contends that commercial activities such as call centres are not restricted whereas it is restrained in its religious ceremonies, particularly with regard to the number of worshippers at church.
The attorney general is the defendant in the lawsuit in which the company is asking the Constitutional Court to declare the Disaster Risk Management Act of 2015 null and void and of no legal effect.
The company is seeking compensation from the Government because it says it has not been able to cater to the poor with food and other commodities because of the restrictions.