Chief Justice Carl Singh on Saturday convened what he termed ‘a troubleshooting exercise’ where magistrates were given the chance to thrash out matters affecting the proper functioning of the Magistrate’s courts.
The session was held at the Boardroom of the Supreme Court and brought together magistrates, divisional commanders, police prosecutors and senior superintendents of police from across the country.
Justice Singh told Stabroek News that the decision to hold Saturday’s session stemmed from a previous meeting held with magistrates only recently.
At that meeting he said the magistrates had pointed to a few problem areas which they experience in the courts and which also affected their presiding over cases and this was basically the result of failures on the part of the police to perform.
He said these problems included the failure of the police to produce witnesses, to serve summonses and have witness statements ready.
“The police, too, may have problems with how magistrates perform their duties and so this will also give them an opportunity to raise and discuss matters too,” Justice Singh said.
Supreme Court Registrar Sita Ramlal was also present at Saturday’s session.
Closer collaboration between the police, the magistracy and other judicial institutions is also part of a US$25M programme for the modernization of the justice administration system.
The programme, which was approved by Cabinet since last year has as a subcomponent, the strengthening of linkages among justice institutions.
This programme entails, too, the financing of activities for the establishment of the Justice Sector reform steering committee and its technical secretariat which will provide high-level policy guidance and coordination for implementation of the Justice Sector reform strategy.
The steering committee will bring together key policymakers from Government and the Judiciary and may include the Ministries of finance, legal affairs, home affairs, the chancellor and chief justice, thereby providing a high level forum for the various sector agencies to co-ordinate the overall reform.
It would also co-ordinate to solve strategic problems as they arise and ensure that the strategy is being followed and all organisations are delivering what they are obligated to within the prescribed budget.
Improving access to justice and enhancing institutional capacity are the other components of the justice system modernization programme.
