Judiciary doing all it can to reduce backlog cases – AG

TIMES INT'L
Attorney General Anil Nandlall

The alarming number of backlog cases in the magistrates’, Supreme Courts and the Court of Appeal has become a great concern for the judicial system, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said.

For quite some time, counsels and their clients, more so, inmates have been complaining about the lengthy period they are forced to wait for their cases to be heard and even when they are being heard, the process encounters various hiccups.

For the past 15 years, the number of cases that have been appearing in the courts have created a huge backlog file that continues to grow daily. As it is, there are in excess of 6000 back log cases, with over 102 murder accused waiting to have their cases heard in the Supreme Courts.

However, Nandlall during an interview on Friday posited that “although it may appear like little or nothing is being done to address this issue, the judiciary is doing much in its power to ensure all citizens received a speedy trial in the court system, because it is their motto that “Justice delayed is justice denied”.

He went on to explain that because the judicial system does not enjoy a full complement of magistrates and judges on the bench, that too can be taken as one of the contributing factors to the issue.

Nonetheless, Nandlall mentioned that although these challenges are facing the justice system, the administration is determined to implement measures to reduce the number of backlog cases in the courts.

This newspaper also caught up with a senior magistrate who requested to remain unidentified. The magistrate in an invited comment mentioned that the number of petty crimes brought before the justice system is also a causative factor of cases being back logged.

She believes that there should be some kind of system set up at various police stations to deal with these matters out of court to ensure justice is served.

This, she noted will release the workload of the court and magistrates will have a greater opportunity to look at more significant cases.

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