Taxpayers to foot hefty legal bill as SVG government set to appeal

SVG govt to appeal vaccine mandate lawsuit

Vincentians taxpayers are set to foot another hefty legal bill as the St. Vincent government will appeal the judgement handed down on Monday in which public servants who challenged the vaccine mandate of 2021 secured victory.

On Monday, Judge Esco Henry ruled, among other things, that the cessation of public servant obligations under the government’s vaccination mandate was unconstitutional and illegitimate.

The judge found that the decision to deem the public servants to have resigned without giving them an opportunity to be heard was ultra vires, procedurally improper, and contrary to the rules of natural justice, and issued certiorari to quash the decisions of the minister, commissioner of police, public service commission, and police service commission, ruling that the public servants never left their jobs.

Lawyer Anthony Astaphan, part of the government’s legal team in the vaccine mandate case, said while the government’s legal team respects the right of the court and the high court of justice to deliver judgment, they believe they have a corresponding duty, if not an obligation, to review the reasons advanced by the learned trial judge and to advise the government on whether there is any merit in an appeal or whether or not the public interest demands that there be an appeal because of the critical constitutional issues and issues of law.