Backlog cases ‘reduced by half’

Feb 11, 2018 News

-Diamond to get Magistrates’ Court

Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary: Yonette Cummings-Edwards

The mindboggling 10,000 backlog of cases is no more. Acting Chief Justice Roxane George, recently disclosed that there is now a maximum of 5,000 pending cases, including those for divorces, civil and full court matters.
Referring to the outstanding matters, Justice George, in an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), said, “And I do not consider them to be backlog cases as such anymore. I would prefer to classify them as old rule cases.”
According to Justice George, the High Court is now operating under the New Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) introduced in February 2016.
The acting Chief Justice disclosed that there are a number of “live matters”, meaning that a trial will be done unless the parties involved arrive at a settlement.
Apart from these matters, Justice George explained that there are a number of matters before the court for which a judge has to adjudicate. She explained, too, that these are not active matters and as such will not go to trial.
Noting that judges are working assiduously to reduce the backlog, the Chief Justice revealed that there are approximately 1,500 matters before the court which require a trial or Full Court hearing. The remaining matters, she said, will have to be passed through the court for those matters to be formally closed.
Under the new CPR there are Fixed Date Applications and Statement of Claim Matters. Thus far, for 2018, 214 Fixed Date Applications were filed, of which 95 were completed, while 37 Statement of Claim matters were filed, of which four were completed. Last year, 2,063 Fixed Date Applications were filed, of which 1, 452 were completed, while 440 Statement of Claim matters were filed, of which 54 were completed.
MAGISTRATES’ COURT FOR DIAMOND

Acting Chief Justice: Roxane George

Meanwhile, acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards, in an interview with DPI, disclosed that a Magistrates’ Court will be constructed at Diamond, East Bank Demerara. In fact, in the coming weeks, the sod will be turned for the construction of the building.
“On the East Bank, from Timehri coming all the way to Georgetown, even Agricola is a heavy catchment area and the volume of cases coming out of there is really high. A court is sitting at Providence and after assuming the office of Chancellor, I revisited it and I realized that the volume was so high we had to have a second building for the court and a second magistrate,” Justice Cummings-Edwards detailed.
The idea to establish the new court is not only to provide access to justice but to ensure that citizens are comfortable while their cases are being heard, the acting Chancellor said.
According to Justice Cummings-Edwards, “We intend to put lifts for persons with disabilities so they would be able to access the court. We will have a briefing room for lawyers, a library, rooms for bailiffs, waiting rooms for litigants and members of the public. So that will be very modern.”
The land to construct the court was acquired with assistance from the Guyana Police Force.
Bids for the construction of the new Magistrates’ Court were opened in last year September at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, under the Supreme Court of Judicature.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News