Establish Judicial Service Commission to appoint more judges- Ramkarran – Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana

Last updated on Sunday, November 7th, 2021, 9:41 pm by Denis Chabrol

Former PPP Executive Member and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ralph Ramkarram.

Former House Speaker, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, on Sunday called on the government to swiftly set up the Judicial Service Commission and take steps to appoint more high court judges and increase the number of appeals court judges required to dealing with the backlog of cases.

“To address the shortage of judges, the government may want to consider filling judicial positions,” he said in his latest weekly Conversation Tree column.

He recommended increasing the number of appeals court judges from five to seven, or at least six, although he stressed that three judges preside over the appeals court. “The appeals court is about 5 years behind, mainly due to the chronic lack of judges on that court,” Ramkarran said. He noted that the composition of the appeals court had been set at five so that it could easily be a majority decision when the entire jury is in session.

The prominent Attorney-at-Law argued that if the required number of appellate judges were increased to seven, the backlog of proceedings at that court could be cleared if two sets of three judges lead the cases and the presiding judge who is one former -officio Justice of Appeal, could be called “for a full bank meeting” if necessary. “With 6 judges, two groups of three can sit non-stop to clear the backlog and not delay justice,” he said.

Turning to the situation in the High Court, while the required number of judges in the High Court is 20, Mr Ramkarran said there are only 12 matters that should be completed in no more than 18 months, depending on the judge, lawyer and the complexity of the matter “, he said.

With President Irfaan Ali categorically declaring that there was no requirement to meet with opposition leader Joseph Harmon for necessary consultations on the appointment of constitutional officials, Ramkarran hoped that the way would now be clear for Guyana’s two leading political leaders to refer to Appointment to some of a judicial service commission. The former Speaker of the House of Representatives did not hide his dissatisfaction with the narrow politicization of the process of setting up constitutional commissions. “Since the election, the appointment of the Judicial Service Commission, which is the only body that can make recommendations for the appointment of judges, has been made contingent on political considerations, namely the government’s demand for opposition leader Joe Harmon, the legitimacy of the government as a Recognize requirement for consultations, ”he said.

The appointment of a substantial Chancellor, the Supreme Justice and Police Commissioner and the Police Service Commission depends on the consultations between the President and the opposition leader.

President Ali recently promised to hold a number of these appointments upon his return from the Parties’ Climate Change Summit in Glasgow.

Click here to share this article:

Comments are closed.