Speaker: Parliament must uphold, respect powers

Listen to this article:

Speaker of Parliament Ratu Epeli Nailatikau with Government and Opposition MPs at the entrance of the Parliament complex in Suva. Picture: JOVESA NAISUA/FILE

SPEAKER of Parliament Ratu Epeli Nailatikau yesterday reiterated that the Parliament must always uphold and respect the constitutional separation of powers between the three arms of the State.

Ratu Epeli made the comment in his ruling on the two petitions filed by two Opposition members of Parliament on Monday.

He ruled that the petitions filed by Ro Filipe Tuisawau and Jese Saukuru were out of order as the matters were both before the High Court.

Ro Filipe had filed a petition seeking for compensation by certain parties in relation to the land claims in the Suva Peninsula while Mr Saukuru’s petition sought action from Parliament for the Minister for Lands to revert certain State lands to iTaukei land under the State Lands Act 1945.

Ratu Epeli said an application seeking negotiation and settlement in relation to land claims in the Suva Peninsula was made in the High Court and was dismissed by the High Court.

He said the appeal against that decision of the High Court was still pending in the Court of Appeal. For the second petition, Ratu Epeli said the petition was clearly an attempt to get Parliament to take action that was not within the power of Parliament to take.

“This Parliament must always uphold and respect the constitutional separation of powers between the three arms of the State,” Ratu Epeli said.

“That be the judiciary, the legislature and the executive.

“It is not for Parliament to adjudicate or deliberate on any matter in relation to which a judicial decision is pending or is otherwise before a court of law.”

Parliament 14-02-2019

[envira-gallery id=”270252″]

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 28
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category