ATTORNEY GENERAL& Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr Anil Nandlall, disclosed to this publication in a recent telephone interview that a contract has been awarded for construction of the building to house the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts at the corner of High Street and Brickdam in Georgetown, and work is presently ongoing. He said there is yet a lot of work to be done on the edifice, such as: wiring, installation and maintenance of air conditioners, and repairs to the gate and fence. Moreover, two additional courtrooms would be added to the northern side of the building, and those would contain all the requisite amenities, such as air conditioners, chambers for the magistrates, and washrooms.

However, he said it is unclear what cases would be heard in those two new courtrooms.

Minister Nandlall said the improved court building would help the Judicial System to function better, in that cases can move at a faster rate inside the courts.
And in an invited comment, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Mr. Justice Carl Singh, said the intention behind reconstruction and renovation of the Georgetown Magistrates Court building is to centralise all the Georgetown courts into one building to improve functioning of the judicial system.

The chancellor said that, since assuming office, he has always expected excellent work from the entire judiciary staff; but there are still in the system loopholes that need to be fixed. Nevertheless, the judicial system has been significantly improved over the last number of years.

Justice Singh said that, as obtains in any legal system the world over, there is always a backlog of cases in the courts.

Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall and Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh, both expect construction of the Magistrates’ Court Building to have a timely finish, in order to facilitate improvement of the judicial system.