Nearly four months after it advertised for applicants to the position of Justice of Appeal, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is still to make an announcement.
While nine new magistrates and ten new puisne judges have been appointed in recent months, the upper tier is still to be augmented. It means that the backlog of cases at the Court of Appeal will continue. It is unclear why appointments have not been made as yet.
On May 1st this year, the JSC advertised for applicants for the position of Justice of Appeal and said that applicants for the position must (i) be or have been a judge of a court of unlimited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters in Guyana or any other part of the Commonwealth or a court having jurisdiction in appeals from such court; or
(ii) a) qualified for admission to practice as an attorney-at-law in the courts of Guyana or as an attorney-at-law in a court in any other part of the Commonwealth having unlimited jurisdiction either in civil or criminal causes or matters and b) be qualified for not less than fifteen years to practice in such court.
(iii) A high level of understanding of relevant principles of law and jurisprudence.
The ad said that it is desirable that applicants have a common law background and knowledge and experience in both criminal and civil practice and procedure.
Applicants are also expected to have a high level of personal integrity, impartiality and the generally accepted attributes of a judge.
In April last year, the National Assembly passed a bill to increase the number of judges sitting in the Court of Appeal to at least nine.
The law had provided for not less than two and not more than five judges for Guyana’s Court of Appeal.
