Tweet
Court Services Agency gets Cabinet approval
New unit to give chief justice greater authority, autonomyBY TANEISHA LEWIS Observer staff reporter lewist@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
CABINET has approved the establishment of a Court Services Agency, which will give the chief justice greater authority and autonomy in the management of the island's court system, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced yesterday.
"We argue that the independence of the judiciary has been compromised to the extent that the court is so dependent on administrative, fiscal decisions of the Ministry of Justice," he said.
Chief Justice Zaila McCalla (left) speaks with Professor Stephen Vasciannie, principal of the Norman Manley Law School, and Se-Shuana Wheatle, a law school student. Occasion was a luncheon at the Mona Visitors' Lodge at the University of the West Indies in Kingston yesterday. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)
Added Golding: "We felt that if the court is to really be independent, the court ought to really manage its own affairs and the provisions are to be made by parliament, that go directly to the court and let the court system under the direction of the chief justice be responsible for its priorities and making its allocation."
The prime minister, who was addressing new and returning students of the Norman Manley Law School at the Mona Visitors' Lodge at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, said the move was not just in keeping with the justice reform recommendations, but also one of the commitments included in the manifesto of his ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
He said the necessary legislation would be drafted so that the agency could be established.
Golding, who also announced other Government's initiatives to overhaul the justice system, said steps were being taken to have clerks of court transferred to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution. This, he said, would facilitate a separation of prosecutorial functions from the actual administration of the court to allow them to concentrate more on the effective delivery of their prosecutorial functions.
"The role and function of the court overlaps and they are in conflict with each other. The clerk of the court is part of the civil service, which is not only responsible for putting together and marshalling evidence, but is responsible for the administrative functions of the court office," he said. The title of clerk would be changed after the transfer, he said.
The prime minister said, too, that the Government was also working to expand the space available for the conduct of court sessions.
Additional personnel would, however be required, but Golding told the law students that Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne was already pursuing an initiative to recruit, on a part-time basis, lawyers, retired judges and court personnel.
"Right now.we are making arrangements to relocate three civil courts to the conference centre, which is perhaps one of Jamaica's under utilised assets and we decided that we are going to put it to work," he said. "Let's move some civil courts there to free up space so that we can expand the number of criminal courts. We are seeking to ensure better utilisation of the court facilities that we have. They are not in the best of shape [and]. some of them have to be reconstructed."
Said the prime minister: "We have in Jamaica a system that carries forward each year a backlog of over 40,000 cases - both criminal and civil - and each year we have coming into the system another 300,000 cases. There are many civil matters that we must determine, and measures are being pursued to do that."
However, he admitted that while the Justice Reform Programme has provided a 10-year road map for rebuilding the country's justice system, the Government was not able to implement the recommendations within an acceptable time line due to lack of resources.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/..._APPROVAL_.asp
New unit to give chief justice greater authority, autonomyBY TANEISHA LEWIS Observer staff reporter lewist@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
CABINET has approved the establishment of a Court Services Agency, which will give the chief justice greater authority and autonomy in the management of the island's court system, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced yesterday.
"We argue that the independence of the judiciary has been compromised to the extent that the court is so dependent on administrative, fiscal decisions of the Ministry of Justice," he said.
Chief Justice Zaila McCalla (left) speaks with Professor Stephen Vasciannie, principal of the Norman Manley Law School, and Se-Shuana Wheatle, a law school student. Occasion was a luncheon at the Mona Visitors' Lodge at the University of the West Indies in Kingston yesterday. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)Added Golding: "We felt that if the court is to really be independent, the court ought to really manage its own affairs and the provisions are to be made by parliament, that go directly to the court and let the court system under the direction of the chief justice be responsible for its priorities and making its allocation."
The prime minister, who was addressing new and returning students of the Norman Manley Law School at the Mona Visitors' Lodge at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, said the move was not just in keeping with the justice reform recommendations, but also one of the commitments included in the manifesto of his ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
He said the necessary legislation would be drafted so that the agency could be established.
Golding, who also announced other Government's initiatives to overhaul the justice system, said steps were being taken to have clerks of court transferred to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution. This, he said, would facilitate a separation of prosecutorial functions from the actual administration of the court to allow them to concentrate more on the effective delivery of their prosecutorial functions.
"The role and function of the court overlaps and they are in conflict with each other. The clerk of the court is part of the civil service, which is not only responsible for putting together and marshalling evidence, but is responsible for the administrative functions of the court office," he said. The title of clerk would be changed after the transfer, he said.
The prime minister said, too, that the Government was also working to expand the space available for the conduct of court sessions.
Additional personnel would, however be required, but Golding told the law students that Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne was already pursuing an initiative to recruit, on a part-time basis, lawyers, retired judges and court personnel.
"Right now.we are making arrangements to relocate three civil courts to the conference centre, which is perhaps one of Jamaica's under utilised assets and we decided that we are going to put it to work," he said. "Let's move some civil courts there to free up space so that we can expand the number of criminal courts. We are seeking to ensure better utilisation of the court facilities that we have. They are not in the best of shape [and]. some of them have to be reconstructed."
Said the prime minister: "We have in Jamaica a system that carries forward each year a backlog of over 40,000 cases - both criminal and civil - and each year we have coming into the system another 300,000 cases. There are many civil matters that we must determine, and measures are being pursued to do that."
However, he admitted that while the Justice Reform Programme has provided a 10-year road map for rebuilding the country's justice system, the Government was not able to implement the recommendations within an acceptable time line due to lack of resources.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/..._APPROVAL_.asp