Electronic court filing/management system seen as key development
opening of the Law Year also marks the implementation of the first strategic plan of the Supreme Court of Judicature. “We of team Supreme are committed to the implementation of projects and programmes in keeping with the theme of the plan - pursuing service excellence through investment in human resources, management systems and technology.”
George posited that this will complement skillsets in management and technology in order to improve the service delivery, along with the renovation of existing courts and construction of new technology-ready court houses, some with living quarters, across Guyana.
She remarked that the Magistrate’s Court case management system which was launched in December 2023, opened the door to a new technologically advanced era that the judicial system is heading towards. This means that police can file cases electronically from police stations to the various magisterial district court offices which can then be assigned electronically to the magistrates.
Within the next few weeks, a soft launch of the litigation system for both the High Court and Court of Appeal can be expected with phase one being the Court of Appeal and phase two being the High Court, which should be ready for a launch by the last quarter of 2024.
The Chief Justice was optimistic that the litigation system would be a game changer for the administration of justice.
“We will commence with filing at service bureaus at the court registries where filing fees will be paid and the documents uploaded to the system with the assistance of registry staff.”
She added that the exchange of documents with legal counsel and court orders will be done through the court registries, and as they become familiar with the system they will migrate to having counsel file and make payments via a reducing balance credit system from the comfort of their chambers or anywhere in the world.
Self-represented litigants can file through service bureaus, and the cases will be assigned electronically to the judges. To accommodate the new systems, a committee is revising the civil procedure rules and will report to the rules committee before the end of the year.
The Chief Justice opined that the future entails moving away from having minutes books of court judicial officers as the court records, to having court-produced audios and written transcripts of all cases as the official record of cases. They will also notify other justice sector partners such as the Deeds Registry, the Land Registry, and the Child Care and Protection Agency and probation department of the Ministry of Human Services in relation to utilising the system.
In the recognition of the need to better manage criminal cases in the High Court and Magistrate’s Courts, the Chancellor of the Judiciary (Ag) Yonette CummingsEdwards, has commissioned criminal procedure rules for review by the Rules Committee. These rules are expected to provide for a more robust case management with greater efficiency of the adjudication of criminal cases.
In order to ensure efficiency they will continue judicial education and staff training through the Justice Education Institute, since the strategic plan emphasises well-trained and competent human resources for court excellence, with plans to expand with more problem-solving courts such as the drug treatment courts and mental health courts.
The President of the Bar Association of Guyana, Ronald Burch-Smith, during his remarks said that the bar is an integral part in the implementation of the strategy.
Speaking on the Judicial Service Commission he said “It’s been six years we have been without a Judicial Service Commission, but one has been in effect for about eight months, and the vacancies being left without being filled is equally unacceptable.”
He also referred to judicial time limits as “absurd” since the amount of judges at this time is outweighed by the number of cases.