$257M for electronic judicial system roll out in 2018

Nov 24, 2017 News

…expected to address backlogs & ensure faster disposition of cases

Guyana’s judiciary is about to get a further upgrade with the rollout of the human resources and e-judiciary database which is expected to improve efficiency and faster disposition of cases.
The Supreme Court has been approved to spend some $256.8 million to undertake the initiative in 2018. This initiative comes at a time when there are continued concerns about the backlog of cases engaging the court system.
According to the budgetary plans of the Supreme Court, the E-Judiciary systems will allow for court documents to be filed, served, tracked and extracted electronically. It is also expected to allow Judges, magistrates and other judicial officers to be better equipped to handle the scheduling of cases, undertake case management and allocate hearing dates for cases in a timely manner.
According to the Judiciary plans, this will reduce delay in hearings and reduce backlog. Additionally, lawyers and litigants can file cases and submit documents for court online and have access to the status of their cases.
“The overall administration of Justice will be improved and enhanced,” according to the Judiciary work plan. The system is expected to be based in Georgetown.
Further, there are plans to equip more jurisdictions with PA systems, cameras, microphones, projectors and screens.
Some $4.4 million has been allocated for this specific reason across seven magisterial districts for the purpose of Skype calls to secure video linkage in court matters. Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and Ten are expected to benefit directly from the Skype calling plan.
The Supreme Court has also been approved to spend $92.9 million to execute the extension of the Court of Appeal building to accommodate the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Secretariat, library and courtroom. The extension is also to accommodate the increase in compliment of Court of Appeal Judges.
According to the work plan of the Court, $179 million has been approved for a court building at Kamarang, Region Eight, Potaro/Sipuruni. Currently, court is held at the Kamarang Nursery School from 1 p.m. after the school sessions are over, hence, court sessions are reduced to half day.
Court sittings are being held quarterly for two days which are statutory, but due to the number of cases and the half-day restrictions, the court sits for the entire week.

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