-situation to remain unchanged, until July 27
THE present complement of judges has been reduced from 14 to eight at a time when there are more cases and litigants to contend with. This is according to a retired judge who prefers anonymity.
And the situation worsened recently when one of two judges, Justice Roxanne George assigned to the current criminal sessions in Demerara went on leave and is not expected back until August 10, 2010.
It is understood that Justice William Ramlal, the other judge assigned to the criminal sessions in Demerara was to have gone on leave also, but has been asked to hold on until Justice George returns.
Justice Ramlal, although present in the country, and was able to dispose of a case via the defence no-case submission route, which took quite a shorter time to conclude than the estimated time.
Justice Ramlal is expected to go on leave on July 27.
As a consequence, the list of the June sessions remains with its 138 minus two cases, with the waiting jurors not being asked to return to court earlier than was expected, as used to be the practice in the past.
When consulted with respect to the present situation, the Chief Justice said that he did not have the required judges because all those who are available were already assigned tasks.
Three judges are assigned to Georgetown and two each for Berbice and Essequibo for both civil and criminal cases.