Underscoring the shortage of judges which compounds the case backlog in the judiciary, Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC says that plans are afoot to increase the numbers sitting in the Court of Appeal.
Currently, the law provides for not less than two and not more than five judges for Guyana’s Court of Appeal; but the Attorney General (AG) said that government hopes to have that increased from not less than five to not more than nine.
He has also said that there are plans to centralize the Court of Appeal, and the High and Land Courts in Demerara and all their attendant registries and support apparatus in one central location.
Nandlall was at the time speaking on the sidelines of a Bar-call for the admission of a new attorney, which was done at the High Court on Wednesday morning before acting Chief Justice Roxane George SC.
He said that government is proposing to; after consulting with the judiciary and the legal profession, amend the law to increase the complement of judges required in the Court of Appeal.
Describing the current complement not less than two and not more than five as being “obviously inadequate,” the AG said it necessitates an amendment, having regard to the caseload leaving the High Court for further ventilation before the Court of Appeal.
Against this background, Nandlall said that government is proposing to increase that complement of Justices for the appellate court to not less than five to not more than nine, even as he expressed hope that the proposed consultation will find agreement.
He said that government is also of the belief that the appellate court should become itinerant in all three counties—so that—while there is a complement of judges sitting in the Court of Appeal in Georgetown, there can also be a complement sitting in Berbice and Essequibo to hear appeals at those locations also.
He said that government wants to also work with the judiciary to resource what he said would be the other “back-up staff” to make the venture a reality; since appointing judicial officers without providing for them the necessary resources to discharge their functions would be inadequate.
“It’s an all-encompassing exercise,” he said, while adding; “our government considers the administration of justice as central to our country and an important factor in the democratic, economic and social equation of our country.”
Asked whether there will be a physical expansion of the Court of Appeal to accommodate the increased number of judges, Nandlall said that construction is currently ongoing to accommodate another courtroom.
He, however, said that he has pitched the idea of the possibility of having judges travel to the different counties to hear appeals.
He then shared that plans are also afoot to construct what he said will be a modern and massive judicial complex which will accommodate in Demerara; the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Land Court and all the attendant registries and support apparatus in one central location.
He said that while this is a more long-term objective, government wants to move ahead “as quickly as possible because the system requires greatest speed in the disposal of cases for there to be justice efficiently and in accordance with law.”
The government has been criticised for not moving quickly to reconstitute the Judicial Service Commission which appoints judges.
