The Supreme Court has struck out certain affidavits deposed by the Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, in support of her injunction application challenging her suspension and the impeachment proceedings against her.
In a ruling today, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court held that the depositions in the affidavit contained proceedings of the committee probing the petition against the Chief Justice, which should be in camera in accordance with Article 146(8) of the Constitution.
Consequently, the court struck out the depositions as violating Article 146(8) of the Constitution.
“The supplementary affidavit is struck out and does not form part of the evidence on record,” the court, presided over by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, held.
The court gave the ruling after it upheld an objection by a Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai.
Earlier, the Supreme Court overruled an objection by the Attorney-General seeking an exclusion of members of the committee probing the Chief Justice from an injunction application.
A Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, had urged the court to remove the names of the committee members - Justices Gabriel Pwamang, Samuel Adibu-Asiedu, Daniel Domelevo, Major Flora Bazwaanura Dalugo and Professor James Sefah Dzisa from the injunction application filed by the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo.
Justice Torkornoo, through the injunction application, is urging the court to halt her suspension and the impeachment proceedings until the determination of her writ challenging the constitutionality of the probe against her.
Moving the objection, Justice Srem-Sai submitted that Justice Torkornoo had indicated in her application that the members of the committee would not be affected by the writ.
In response, lawyer for the Chief Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, a former A-G, said the basis for removing a party from a suit was not whether the person will be affected by the suit but rather, whether he should be a party at all.
He argued that the applicant (Justice Torkornoo) had sought claims and reliefs against the committee members and therefore they are proper parties.
In a ruling, a five-member panel of the court, presided over by the Acting Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, held that the indication by the Chief Justice that the committee members will not be affected by the writ was not fatal and subsequently overruled the objection.
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