Administration of justice CoE needed

Indeed, a Pandora’s box has now been opened up into the patently unsatisfactory nature in which the citizenry has been allowed to exist for much too long.

Let me say that the matter involving former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar is not within the purview of lawyers only, as appears thus far, but concerns the whole citizenry.

Why should the goodly woman (and indeed any magistrate or judge for that matter) be constrained to have, at any point in time, within his or her dossier a residue of unfinished cases numbering as many as 50? Also, why should any legal practitioner, however adept (more especially a defence attorney), be allowed to have within his or her brief a number of matters such as could be handled satisfactorily, without the need for undue adjournments on account of a preoccupation elsewhere — a situation which, judging from utterances reported, would convey the impression that these attorneys do not consider their actions to be a contributory factor to the mess in which the administration of justice finds itself ? In any event, we are a society in which a culture of lethargy seems to thrive.

The “crime” committed by the chief justice and the Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) is said to be their failure to take due cognizance of the fact that the former chief magistrate would have had such a large dossier of unfinished cases prior to her being appointed and, subsequently, taking the oath of office as a judge of the High Court.

What seems to have been left to conjecture, thus far, is an authoritative account as to whether business left unfinished by one judicial officer can legally be dealt with by another, given particular circumstances. What if a presiding officer dies in office? Perhaps a look at other jurisdictions will assist in this determination.

Needless to say, the situation dealt with herein impinges on the Prison Service and the Remand Yard, in particular. It also has serious implications for the career path of individuals who may have been appointed to the Magistracy.

These are but a few of the issues which impinge on the tardiness in which our courts, at all levels, find themselves. And I venture to proffer that removal of the chief justice and the JLSC from office will on no account bring about the deep-seated changes required in the systems and procedures and which are the root causes of the problems and the negative features and restrictive practices in the administration of justice, thereby resulting in the snail’s pace and even obstructionist manner in which matters before our courts at all levels tend to be dealt with.

In the circumstances, the President should appoint a commission of enquiry to review urgently and report expeditiously on the administration of justice in TT .

ERROL OC CUPID Tacarigua