Court of Appeal remembers Justice Prithviraj Fekna |08 August 2019

The ceremonial sitting in honour of the late Justice Fekna

● Appeal hearings postponed to today

Justice of Appeal Prithviraj Fekna who passed away suddenly on Monday was honoured and remembered yesterday morning during a short ceremonial sitting in the Court of Appeal’s court room at the Palais de Justice.

All appeal cases scheduled to be heard yesterday at the start of the second appeal session for this year have been adjourned to today.

The ceremonial session yesterday was held in the presence of three of the late Justice Fekna’s family members, namely his sister, sister in law and nephew, judges of the Supreme Court, magistrates and members of the Bar.

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Francis MacGregor, expressed his condolences to the family and reflected on Justice Fekna’s impressive career in the Mauritian judiciary.

“He has held various posts in the Mauritian judiciary, including President of the Fair Rank Tribunal and President of the Industrial Court. He was also a part-time lecturer at the Institute of Judicial and Legal Studies in Mauritius. In 2011 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Mauritius,” said Justice MacGregor.

Justice Fekna was sworn into office on June 27 this year as a non resident Justice of Appeal in the Seychelles Court of Appeal.

“As a Justice of Appeal in Seychelles, on the recommendations of the Constitutional Appointments Authority (CAA), he had already been assigned 11 of our cases for this session, some ground work had already been done,” Justice MacGregor informed the audience.

Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey also expressed her condolences and stated that the Court of Appeal regretted that they had not had enough of an opportunity to work with Justice Fekna who was warm, kind and diligent in his work.

“He is remembered for two landmark decisions in the Supreme Court of Mauritius, that is ‘The State v Moho Mata Ally in 2015’, ‘The State v Charles in 2010’, the latter on the constitutionality of a dying declaration. He was passionate about teaching the next generation and worked with the Bar Courts in Mauritius,” CJ Twomey pointed out.

She said Justice Fekna had hoped to get involved with our legal education.

“We only had the briefest opportunity to meet him and was so looking forward to having his experience on the bench and his pastoral nature on the Court of Appeal team. He was warm and kind natured and very diligent. He was a great Judge that the Court of Appeal of Seychelles never had,” CJ Twomey reflected.

Justice Anthony Fernando shared a short reflection on Justice Fekna’s enthusiasm to retire from Mauritius and come to stay in Seychelles on a permanent basis so that he can contribute to the legal education of this country.

Attorney Bernard Georges also presented to the family of late Justice Fekna his own condolences and that of the Bar’s and the former Judge Juddoo of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the necessary processes are underway to repatriate Justice Fekna’s body to Mauritius.