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No stay on implementation of Northern Zone bus schedule

FeaturesNo stay on implementation of Northern Zone bus schedule
The Northern Zone bus schedule continues as implemented by the Department of Transport, after Justice Oswell Legall today refused a stay on its implementation in the Supreme Court.
  
Froylan Gilharry, owner of Gilharry Bus Line and a major player in the transport industry for over 30 years, has refused to take up the new runs assigned to his company on the schedule, which took effect on June 19, eight days ago, because he believes he was not properly consulted by the Department of Transport, that he had legitimately expected to get back the runs he previously held, and that the assigned runs will give him additional expenses and make it difficult for him to earn a living.
  
Last Tuesday, Senior Counsel Fred Lumor filed an application for leave for judicial review of the decision and an application to stay the implementation of the schedule until the case is heard. Justice Legall set today as the date for arguments on the stay.
  
Crown Counsel Nigel Hawke, responding for Minister of Transport Melvin Hulse, Chief Transport Officer Gareth Murrillo, the Transport Board and the Attorney General, argued that should the Court issue a stay, it would have the effect of putting the remaining bus operators on the route, as well as those on the village runs, which also appear on the schedule, at a standstill and threaten their means of living. The permits, he argued, only go into effect with an approved schedule, lest there be chaos and unauthorized runs. The application did not list these operators as parties to the case, he said, and they would not be able to defend themselves if their rights were taken away from them.
  
Lumor argued in reply that the procedure employed by the Board was irregular, including the non-gazetting of the road service permits, valid for only three months; that it was his client whose rights were being adversely affected and that the operators in question actually benefited from the new schedule, whereas his client, Gilharry, did not.
  
Ultimately, the judge said that while he could stay the implementation, he agreed that it would not be fair to the other operators making a living to put everything on hold.
  
The claim for judicial review will be heard on July 21, 2011. Both Gilharry and Lumor told Amandala that they would sit down and review their options, including whether Gilharry would go ahead and take up the runs which he has to date ignored.

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