THE National Assembly, last Monday, unanimously passed the Recording of Court Proceedings Bill 2014 which Government said will speed up the operations of the courts, through electronic verbatim recording of proceedings, rather than the current lengthy manual note-taking process.Piloting the measure through the House, Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall said that it introduces to Guyana’s legal system, for the first time ever, automatic recordings of court proceedings using technological apparatus.
He said: “We have heard, for a very long time, lamentations expressed about the lengthy delays which afflict our justice system and the consequential injustice which flows therefrom both in the administration of criminal justice as well as in the civil aspect.”
The Bill will legitimise the records that will be produced by the electronic recording equipment and the processes which are attached to it, Nandlall explained.
Because of its advantages over the manual system of recordings, use of the equipment will accelerate the rate at which the justice systems dispose of cases.
He disclosed that the Bill allows judges and magistrates to make their own records but the electronic records will be the official record of the courts and, in any cases of conflicts with someone’s notes and those recorded, the electronic recordings will prevail.
The AG said that electronic recording equipment considered even better than those currently used in the courtrooms in New York is already here in Guyana.
Pilot project
He disclosed that the electronic recording network will be installed in three courts as part of a pilot project, namely the Court of Appeal, the Chief Justice’s Court and the Commercial Court.
“We will start in these three, see how it works and, eventually, install the system in all of the courts in Guyana,” Nandlall told the House.
He said there is also an element of cost recovery in the system, in that lawyers would have to pay a fee to get copies of records relating to the matters they are pursuing.
He said that cost recovery is necessary in order to ensure the sustainability of the system.
People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP) Priya Manickchand, in supporting the passage of the Bill, said that it will create significant improvements in the way justice is delivered and administered in Guyana.
Modern times
“It will expedite the course of justice. It provides the efficiency and speed that is needed in these modern times,” she stated.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) MP, Basil Williams said the acquisition of the electronic recording equipment and the piloting of the Bill to legitimise its use is a step in the right direction.
He said he hopes that the system will soon find its way into the Criminal Assizes since the Judges, for instance, rather than being burdened with manual note taking, would be free to observe the demeanour of the witnesses and, thus, be in a stronger position to dispense justice.
The electronic recording system was one of several projects funded through a US$25M loan from the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) under the Modernisation of the Justice Administration System (MJAS) for Guyana which started in 2007 and ended in October last year.
Minister Nandlall said that, in 2007, when the project started, the electronic recording system had not even been considered in the proposals.
He, however, recognised that such a system was long overdue and, subsequently, wrote to the IDB asking that it amend the list of projects approved for funding by adding the equipment and the Bank had kindly consented.
Written by Clifford Stanley