Guyana court system collapsing?
Kaieteur News: There is now a clear picture of why it took 14 years for Oscar Green, 72, to secure judgement in the High Court for injuries he sustained when his car was struck by another on the East Coast Demerara Highway.This matter has since been appealed and it could be even longer before the elderly pensioner sees the end of his matter. This newspaper’s report had suggested that he may not live to collect the $20 million judgement awarded by Justice B.S. Roy.
There seems to be no end to the growing backlog in the courts. Each year the number keeps increasing, giving firm conviction to the belief that justice is becoming increasingly scarce in Guyana. There is an adage that contends that justice delayed is justice denied.
The backlog can be found in every aspect of judicial proceedings. The 2006 annual report on the operations of the court stated that in that year there were 1,114 applications for probate and letters of administration in the three countries, adding to a backlog of 242 in Georgetown and 247 in Berbice. All told there were 1,836 such applications. The courts only heard 1,266. More than 500 were left pending.
The situation was no different in matters pertaining to the Land Court where there are petitions for prescriptive rights. The addition of the sub-registry in Suddie will see some of these matters being heard in Essequibo.
In Georgetown, applicants filed 481 applications for prescriptive rights and 275 in Berbice. Seven were filed in Suddie. There was, however, a backlog of 451 in Berbice, making the total number of such matters to be heard 1,214.
Of this number only 339 were completed and 366 in Berbice, leaving a backlog of 508 petitions.
With respect to land registration, there were 100 backlog cases. In 2006, 86 new applications were filed in Georgetown while 33 were filed in Berbice. Only 35 were disposed of in the city and 30 in Berbice. The backlog grew to 180.
In the other courts, particularly in the criminal jurisdiction, the backlog kept increasing, reaching alarming proportions.
In the Full Court which sits in the city, there were 21 criminal appeals filed. At the same time there was a backlog of 24 appeals, 21 of them in Georgetown. By the end of the year only nine of the 45 pending appeals were heard — eight in Georgetown and one in Berbice.
In the Guyana Court of Appeal the situation was worse. There were 26 criminal appeals filed, adding to the 29 that had been pending since 2003. Only three were concluded, leaving a whopping 52 pending the following year.
That Court of Appeal comprises the Chancellor, the Chief Justice and five justices of appeal. At the end of 2006, that Court of Appeal comprised an acting Chancellor who is in effect the Chief Justice and three Justices of Appeal.
The situation is worst compounded in the Magistrates’ Courts. In Georgetown, for example, there were some 12,000 cases pending at the start of 2006. A further 14,000 cases were made in 2006. Nearly 9,000 matters were completed that year leaving an even greater backlog of some 17,000 at the end of the year.
In the Vreed-en-Hoop court, 1,242 summary cases and 136 indictable cases were pending from 2005. A further 2,959 summary cases and 496 indictable cases were filed that year. The number of summary cases disposed of was 2,927, which, when coupled with the 353 indictable cases, saw the number of backlog cases mount to some 1,500.
Vigilance made significant strides in reducing the backlog. It saw a reduction in the number of summary backlog cases from 2,358 to 1,751 and backlog indictable cases from 531 to 114.
The New Amsterdam magisterial district and Whim recorded increases in the number of backlog cases.
All told, in the magisterial districts there were 25,112 backlog cases at the end of 2006.
The situation is no different at the other seven magisterial districts. Preliminary inquiries have not escaped the backlog although the records show that the Vreed-en Hoop Magistrate’s Court and the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court made the most significant improvement, reducing their backlog from 27 to 26 and from 307 to 208 respectively.
In the civil jurisdiction there were 109 appeals filed in 2006. There were also 207 in the backlog from the previous year. Of this number 25 were concluded but decision was reserved in 13 of the cases
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