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Nandlall says: Judges must comply with legal timeframe for writing decisions
Kaieteur News – Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall SC is standing by his position that the time limit for writing judicial decisions must be complied with. In a statement on Friday, the AG, while acknowledging that the workload of judges is mountainous, said that the continuous non-compliance with the Judicial Time Limit Act 2009 is unjustifiable.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC
The AG’s comments follow a recent statement reportedly made by Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire who described the Judicial Time Limit Act 2009, which gives judges 120 days to write their decisions, as a heresy.
“As Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs with responsibility for justice, for me, silence is not and has never been an option…” Nandlall said noting that accountability and transparency are demanded from those funded by the public purse.
He continued, “… I cannot explain to members of the public how a crucial institution like the Judiciary, whose constitutional mandate in the main is to uphold the law and to hold every other agency and citizen legally accountable, violates its own law with apparent impunity.”
He questioned, “On what basis should the Judiciary be exempted from merely delivering their decisions within a timeframe prescribed by a law? These are questions that are extraordinarily difficult to explain to an enquiring public.”
Nandlall emphasized that the Act was intended to address an institutional problem of Judges failing to render decisions in a timely manner.
It is for these reasons; he said that after public consultations during the 1999 – 2001 Constitution Reform process that an amendment was made to Article 197 (3) of the Constitution.
Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane George Wiltshire
The AG noted that the amendments stated that, “A Judge may be removed from office only for inability to perform the functions of his or her office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misbehaviour or for persistently not writing decisions or for continuously failing to give decisions and reasons therefore within such time as may be specified by Parliament and shall not be so removed except in accordance with the provisions of this article.”
The Attorney General noted that there are several provisions on how the law should be applied.
He explained that “Section 4 of the Act mandates a High Court Judge to give decisions in a case no later than 120 days after the conclusion of the hearing. Section 5 of the Act compels the Court of Appeal and the Full Court to render their decisions not later than 30 days from the conclusion of the hearing.”
“Section 6 of the Act states that “In accordance with Article 197 (3) of the Constitution a Judge may be removed from office for, among other reasons, persistently failing to give written or oral decisions and reasons for the decisions within the time specified in this Act.”
“Section 7 of the Act obliges the Chancellor to cause the Registrar to notify the Judges who are in breach of these timeframes and to inform them of the provisions of Article 197. Section 8 of the Act allows for Judges to seek an extension of time to comply. Section 11 of the Act provides for the Chancellor to instruct the Registrar to submit to the Speaker of the National Assembly an annual report consisting of judges’ compliance with the provisions of the Act.”
Regrettably, the AG said none of the aforementioned provisions of the Act ever enjoyed compliance since its enactment.
Nandlall posited too that if the time frame is insufficient, perhaps consideration should be given to changing the law but there must be compliance with law.
Meanwhile, he said the Government continues to resource the judiciary in every way possible.
“Twelve Magistrates were appointed a few weeks ago. Twelve (12) High Court Judges will take the Oath of Office before the end of this month. Advertisements are out to fill several vacancies at the Guyana Court of Appeal. Six Magistrates’ Courts are currently under construction.”
“A new Court has been added to the Court of Appeal building. Judges now have the facilities of Judicial Assistants and are further assisted by an automatic audio recording system. I can go on but I think the point is made,” Nandlall said.
- Anil Nandlall, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire, removed, SC
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