Supreme Court Judges performance ‘awfully inadequate’ – Chancellor

By Kurt Campbell

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Chancellor of the Judiciary (CJ) Carl Singh has expressed the view that the performance of judges in the Supreme Court is ‘awfully inadequate’ and  is of the opinion that criticisms in that regard are justified.

He was at the time delivering remarks at a ceremony to mark the completion of Guyana’s first comprehensive justice sector reform, at Duke Lodge, Kingston on Monday October 28.

Singh told the gathering of Lawyers, Judges and key persons in the justice sector that the hallmark of an efficient and effective judicial system is timely delivery of decisions by judges.

“Only this morning I was told of a case where a decision is outstanding for a judge to determine that a matter is abandoned, that determination is more a matter of arithmetic than it is of law and that decision I’m told is five years old,” Singh said.

He added “this is where the blot lies on the judicial system and it must change.”

Singh in previous statements had attributed such tardiness by judges to be contributing to the high instance of backlogged cases and had called for the appointment of more judges.

He says nonetheless that there have been successes and developments in systems and infrastructure which must also be recognized.