In a landmark ruling that clarifies regulatory interpretation of transit privileges, Trinidad and Tobago’s Court of Appeal has unanimously overturned the conviction of a 17-year-old youth—the son of a sitting judge—who had been penalized for unauthorized use of the Priority Bus Route (PBR).
The appellate panel, comprising Justices Peter Rajkumar, Geoffrey Henderson, and Ricky Rahim, determined that Master Tricia Bhagwandeen-Sadho committed a legal error by imposing an evidentiary requirement not supported by existing legislation. The case originated from an August 2020 incident when the teenager was stopped while operating his father’s vehicle on the PBR and presented a valid permit issued for the vehicle.
Justice Rajkumar, authoring the decisive judgment, emphasized that the Highways Act and Classification of Highways Order explicitly authorize vehicles—not individual drivers—to utilize the bus route. The court found that the youth satisfactorily met his legal obligation by producing the legitimate PBR permit and affirming he had permission to use the vehicle, thereby shifting the burden of proof to prosecutors to demonstrate otherwise—a burden the state failed to discharge.
Critically, the court rejected the lower court’s reliance on unpublished conditions printed on the permit’s reverse side, noting these conditions were never formally entered into evidence. The judgment further repudiated the Master’s concern about ‘absurd outcomes’ resulting from literal statutory interpretation, highlighting that the legislation already empowers the minister to impose additional conditions if necessary.
The ruling establishes significant precedent regarding statutory construction principles and reinforces that courts cannot infer restrictions absent from legislative text. The Appeal Court consequently vacated all penalties associated with the conviction.