PM must approve appointments

In the annual report of the JLSC (2004) laid in the House of Representatives yesterday, Sharma pointed out that no appointment may be made by the commission to the offices of Solicitor General, Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Director of Public Prosecutions, Registrar General or Chief State Solicitor, unless the Prime Minister signifies that he has no objection to such an appointment.

Sharma, who is also chairman of the JLSC, said difficulties could arise if this is allowed to continue.

He pointed out that an impasse could arise which may be difficult to resolve in the time available to make an acting appointment, if the Prime Minister objects to the person whom the commission proposes to appoint.

The problem, he added, will be even more acute if the need for an appointment arises because of disagreement between the Prime Minister and the commission over who should be appointed substantively to fill a vacant office.

Requests for persons to act in these offices should be received with the endorsement of the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Attorney General, or the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs, at least one month before the effective date of the proposed appointment to facilitate the processing of the requests.

"In this period under review, this has been the exception rather than the rule; on occasions, these requests were received less than one week before the commencement of the proposed appointment," Sharma added.

On another issue, Sharma said that in spite of advertisements, certain departments in the Judicial and Legal Service continue to be understaffed. This was due to the poor responses to the advertisements, the high incidence of persons declining first appointment by the commission, and the vacation of offices, both temporary and substantive, by the officers who prefer to take up contract employment with the State.

Sharma said that in an effort to contain the understaffing problem, the commis-sion had been obliged to make acting or temporary appointments of persons who fell short of the number of years professional experience stipulated in the job specification for the office.

The Chief Justice pointed out that the solution to the problem may well be the improvement of the remuneration and terms and conditions at offices of the Judicial and Legal Service.