09/02/2024
Judge rules against TTPS height policy; CoP ordered to redo recruiting drive
Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher has been ordered to reopen the screening process for prospective officers to include those who may have been previously excluded due to their height.
High Court Judge Robin Mohammed made the order yesterday, as he upheld a lawsuit from Renaldo Marajh, of Williamsville, who was previously excluded from recruitment for failing to meet the T&T Police Service’s (TTPS) minimum height requirement.
In the lawsuit, Marajh’s lawyers, led by Anand Ramlogan, SC, claimed that the requirement that male candidates be a minimum of 167 centimetres in height, found in a Police Service Regulation implemented in 2007, was unconstitutional.
They claimed it was discriminatory to prospective candidates of certain racial groups, who are generally shorter in stature than others. They also complained it was discriminatory based on gender, as female candidates were required to be a minimum of 150 centimetres.
In his judgment, Justice Mohammed agreed.
“The effect of the regulation is discriminatory, as it imposes unequal treatment to similarly circumstanced individuals seeking to be recruited by the TTPS simply on the basis of their height and gender,” Justice Mohammed said.
“The defendant has failed to advance any justification for the TTPS’ imposition of a height requirement or a gender specific height distinction as a pre-condition for recruitment into the Police Service,” he added.
As part of the lawsuit, Justice Mohammed had to consider whether the regulation was immune from judicial oversight based on the constitutional saving clause, which prevents constitutional challenges to legislation not repealed when the 1976 Constitution was passed by Parliament as this country became a republic.
He stated that while a height requirement was introduced in 1971, the 2007 regulation was not saved, as it made fundamental changes to the previous position.
Justice Mohammed ruled that Marajh’s constitutional rights to equality before the law and equality of treatment by a public authority had been breached.
As part of his judgment, Justice Mohammed ordered $175,000 in compensation for the distress and inconvenience Marajh suffered. He also ordered $225,000 in vindicatory damages and ordered the State to pay his legal costs for pursuing the case.
Marajh, an avid kickboxer, filed the case in 2021 after he was excluded from a recruitment process in October 2020 because he is 160 centimetres tall.
“I am a healthy, fit and young man who would like to contribute to and serve my country, yet I am disqualified from doing so on account of my height,” Marajh said in his affidavit attached to the case.
“This is particularly troubling in a multi-racial society such as ours, as it will have a disproportionate impact on persons who, due to their ethnic origin, are of medium built,” he added.
In December last year, Marajh’s lawyers sought an interim injunction seeking to block the TTPS from holding a screening exercise scheduled for the following month. They claimed the TTPS, through its attorneys, had previously given an undertaking not to engage in recruitment until the landmark case was determined by Justice Mohammed.
In response, Harewood-Christopher denied giving the undertaking. She also claimed the TTPS was seeking to follow a Cabinet mandate to recruit 1,000 new police officers this year. She also pointed out that recruitment was being done in batches of 200, so the recruitment process could change based on the outcome of the case without stymieing the TTPS’ mandate.
Justice Mohammed made the order to reopen the screening based on Harewood-Christopher’s position.
“In order to give effect to this judgment and to ensure that all citizens similarly circumstanced to the Claimant can have a fair opportunity to be screened for recruitment to the TTPS, I am also making an order that the Police Commissioner reopen the screening process in order to widen the pool of suitable candidates from which further batches of recruits can be chosen,” he said.
In a brief statement, Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial, who was part of Marajh’s legal team, described the case as historic. She noted that it came after another judge found that a TTPS policy which had prevented persons with visible tattoos from joining the TTPS was also unconstitutional.
“Such anachronistic policies illustrate why new and innovative leadership is badly needed to transform the police service into a modern, technology-based, effective crime fighting organisation,” she said.
She also criticised Harewood-Christopher and the Office of the Attorney General for defending the case.
“It is simply ridiculous that they would expend so much resources on trying to maintain this discriminatory practice in a modern society,” she said.
Marajh was also represented by Renuka Rambhajan, Alana Rambarran, and Ganesh Saroop. The State legal team was led by Vanessa Gopaul.
*By Derek Achong*
*Senior Reporter*
Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher has been ordered to reopen the screening process for prospective officers to include those who may have been previously excluded due to their height.
