J Batts asking if it is not unequal treatment tgat a person from Belize can get a birth certificate without NIDS but a Jamaican resident here cannot #NIDSCourtCase
Really not understanding the AG's response on this issue of inequality. Judges repeating the point they are asking about several times. J Sykes now telling her not to fixate on birth certificate. He is now explaining point to her #NIDSCourtCase Tells Her 2 Look At Broader Point
Judges pointing out that public officials shall require NIDS for services from Jamaicans. AG saying......there is a process govt is going through. Judges telling her to look at text of the law. #NIDSCourtCase
J Sykes tells AG that her problem is that she is basing her arguments on what is to come but she has to look at the text of what has been passed. #NIDSCourtCase
J Sykes says it is a legal impossibility that regs can change the primary Act. AG says she is not saying regs will change provisions of the Act but that they will govern how the Act will work. #NIDSCourtCase
AG says the Act does not say without NIDS a Jamaican will be denied service. J Batts ask how else the Act can be interpreted since the Axt says the public official official 'shall' comply with need to ask for NIDS. AG says we are assuming there will be refusal #NIDSCourtCase
J Sykes, speaking v slowly says " You are talking about the intention of Parliament. But the Act does not say so.' #NIDSCourtCase
J Sykes says if hard nosed public functionlary has read Act and refuses service bcz of no NIDS how can we tell him he is wrong?" AG says Act does not say service is to be refused and we should not speculate. Sykes: law should not depend on generosity of spirit. #NIDSCourtCase
AG : the Act does not say what happens if you don't have NIDS and we can't assume a denial of service. Sykes: we are saying the argument that has been made is that it creates unequal treatment for Jamaicans vis a vis non Jamaicans. That is the broader question. #NIDSCourtCase
#NIDSCourtCase J Batts : we are not waiting to see if the Executive breaches the constitution. That is not how a Constitutional Court works. In Hinds the court did not wait to see how the Review Board worked.
