An Accra Human Rights High Court has dismissed an application filed by 11 LLB graduates seeking to halt entrance exams into the Ghana School of Law slated for today.
The court, presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah, said the applicants failed to demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable damage if the examination was allowed to take place.
Ruling
He said the applicants ought to have convinced the court that the balance of convenience tilts unfavorable towards them.
Justice Yeboah stated that the matter before the court bordered on human rights and was not sure that the applicants had painted the picture that they would suffer any hardship if the application was not granted.
In the view of the judge, the court must be convinced that the applicants seeking the injunction had a prima facie case.
Justice Yeboah held that the declaration of the entrance exams as unconstitutional by Supreme Court was conditional, as it was given in a certain context.
He noted that there was wisdom in the decision of the judges of the apex court, stressing that he does not think there was a blanket declaration of unconstitutionality as the applicants argued.
Arguments
The ruling has paved the way for the GLC to hold the exams today after which it can no longer administer these examinations and interviews without reference to any existing legislation as ordered by the Supreme Court.
Prof. Kweku Ansah Asare, in an over an hour argument for the injunction, among others, stated that allowing the exams would amount to the court granting immunity to a body that has acted with impunity.
Nana Yaw Twafo, lawyer for the GLC, contended that the issued raised by the applicants were dead on arrival and had exposed the frivolity of the case of the applicants.
He urged the court to dismiss the case of the students.
Reliefs
The 11 LLB students, in the suit filed through their lawyers Hencil Chambers in Accra after a petition they sent to the council did not yield dividends, wanted a declaration that “the General Legal Council is a creature of statute i.e. the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32), and therefore should obey the orders of the court.
They are asking for further declaration that “as the statutory body responsible for the organization of legal education in Ghana, it comes under a statutory duty under the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32) and the Professional Law Course Regulations, 1984 (L.I. 1296) to comply with the terms of the law regarding admission of law graduates into the Ghana School of Law.”
According to the students, the court should also declare that “the passage of L.I. 1296 under the powers conferred on the defendant (council) by Section 14 of the Legal Professional Act, 1960 (Act 32) makes Regulations 2 and 3 (L.I. 1296) the only lawful criteria for admission of the plaintiffs into the Ghana School of Law.”
The applicants wanted the court to declare that the plaintiffs and other persons with the requisite qualifications in terms of the law (i.e. Act 32 and L.I. 1296) “automatically qualify for admission into the Ghana School of Law.
They sought a declaration that “the admission criteria imposed by defendant (council) in terms of an entrance examination and an interview for admission into the Ghana School of Law since 2015 contravene the provisions of Act 32 and L.I. 1296.”
The students prayed for an order of the court “setting aside the unlawful criteria complained off as illegal and unconstitutional and an infringement upon the plaintiffs’ fundamental human rights enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.”
“Being itself a creature of statute by virtue of the 1992 Constitution and the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459), the court could not fail to take up the issue of illegality arising from breaches by defendant of Sections 13 and 14 of the Legal Profession Act, 1960 (Act 32) and Regulations 2 and 3 of the Professional Law Course Regulations 1984 (L.I. 1296) which had come to its notice.”
They said the court should also declare that “the Independent Examinations Board, which is to administer the entrance examination on Friday, 14th July, 2017, has no legal right to do so because it is unknown to either the Legal Profession Act 1960 (Act 32) or the Profession Law Course Regulations, 1984 (L.I. 1296).”
The students also wanted an order “prohibiting the so-called Independent Examination Board, a faceless body unknown to Ghanaian Jurisprudence, from administering the entrance examination for admission into the Ghana School of Law planned to take place on Friday, 14th July 2017.”
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson