Jagannath Sami has been a soccer player representing a premier district side in the Fiji Football Association competitions, a leader of the sugar mill workers, a leader of a farmers' union, a politician and chief executive officer of the Sugar Cane Growers Council but he is best known for the controversy surrounding his dismissal as the CEO of the SCGC by the military regime of Commodore Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama following the military coup of 2006.
He subsequently facilitated the registration of the Fiji Cane Transport Operator's Association and was elected its first general secretary.
He used unconventional methods to assist farmers by directly approaching the Great Council of Chiefs (Fiji)|GCC],taking a delegation of the Cane Growers Council and madesubmissions to help solve the country's land lease problems, claiming that political leaders had politicised the land issue and could not resolve the problem.
[4] Earlier he had questioned the acting Police Commissioner on his statement that rule of law was still intact in the country and had been warned by the military to not make any comments against it.
In response to the verdict, Interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that Justice Connors must have been uninformed about Sami's formal dismissal, the day before by the president of the Republic of Fiji.
Military personnel surrounded the premises that morning and took Sami away for interrogation at the Police Western Division Headquarters.
[15] On 26 January 2007, Justice John Connors ordered the Military to stop harassing Sami, warning that any interference with him could compromise any legal proceedings that he was a party to.
His lawyer, Shalend Krishna, also alleged that harassment and intimidation from the Military had prevented him from obtaining the necessary decree from the Government Printery to file court pleas on Sami's behalf.
[19] On the same day, Sami's lawyer Shalend Krishna filed writs in the Lautoka High Court, naming President Iloilo, interim prime minister Bainimarama, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and interim attorney-general Khaiyum as defendants in a civil case challenging the authority of the president to dismiss him.