AG, LSB condemn forum shopping
As per the law, Chief Justice is not empowered to pick judges - LSB
The Law Society of Botswana ( LSB) has expressed concern over continued forum- shopping of judges which has been a bone of contention over the past years.
This trend was seen as untidy and resulted in the introduction of Case Management System ( CMS) which picks judges for cases. Last year the Chief Justice was accused of forum shopping when he exercised his powers under the Rules of the High Court and the High Court Act to appoint a judge to preside over a case.
This week the LSB and Attorney General expressed concern over the selection of judges for cases. LSB Chairman Tshekiso Tshekiso pointed out that in the past year, there has been an outcry from various sectors of the public, and some litigants, over the appointment by the Chief Justice to adjudicate over cases he considers to be of such public importance as to warrant the empanelment of more than one judge.
He explained that the controversial and ugly concept of ‘ judge shopping’ reared its head again, as it did in the past. The Society, he said takes the view that the law as it stands does not empower the Chief Justice to handpick judges to adjudicate over any matter.
Tshekiso stated that relations between the Society and the AOJ have eased after appearing to hit rock bottom at some point.
“The Chief Justice has kept an opendoor policy with the Society, thereby making it easy to arrange meetings to discuss matters of mutual concern.
“We, however, encourage the office of the Chief Justice to do all within its power under the law to allay legal practitioners and litigants’ concerns about Judge Shopping and to safeguard the much- needed independence of the judiciary,” Tshekiso said.
He indicated that it appears that the attention of the Chief Justice is drawn and attracted to cases according to the stature of litigants and calibre of judges allocated by the case management system. He said this should remain an occurrence of the past.
Attorney General Advocate Keetshabe also brought to the attention of the Chief Justice what he said is a challenge that they are beginning to experience and that is “quite unpalatable” in the litigation space.
According to Adv Keetshabe there is a very unusual and strange pattern of some types of cases being allocated only to certain judges. “I urge the judiciary to consider coming up with a way of discouraging this undesirable practice,” he said.