Download PDF - The Judiciary

State of Judiciary 2011-2012
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reduced by 3,419 cases. In the Commercial and Admiralty division,
where a baseline survey surfaced 29,000 cases, 27,000 cases were
removed from the backlog. There were similar initiatives in the
Constitutional, Human Rights and Judicial Review, the Criminal and
the Family divisions. Out of the 58,800 cases captured as backlog
in these courts, 31,260 were disposed of in just 100 days. In the
Constitutional and Human Rights Division, a baseline survey surfaced
6,000 files and within 100 days a total of 590 case had been cleared.
The Office of the Judiciary Ombudsperson was set up to receive and
investigate complaints against judicial officers by the public, and by
the staff against each other or against their employer. This measure
was complemented by the statutory vetting of judicial officers, which
was initiated as an activity independent of the Judiciary.
In the last one year, cases that are of great public interest have
been fast tracked. In this regard, a 5-judge bench was constituted
to hear and determine 136 cases on Electoral and Administrative
Boundaries which was concluded on 9 th July 2012. Similarly, the
case on the election date was fast tracked both in the High Court
and Court of Appeal. This had the effect of stabilizing the political
environment and giving a definitive judicial settlement to two
important national issues.
In May 2012, in order to prepare the Judiciary for the elections,
the Chief Justice constituted the Judiciary Working Committee
on Election Preparedness which has laid an elaborate training
programme for Judges and Judicial staff and proposed a important
amendments to the election law now before Parliament for
consideration.
A systematised approach to delivering access to justice has been
codified in the Judiciary Transformation Framework, the blueprint for
bringing the Judiciary into line with the demands of the Constitution.
The Judiciary Transformation Framework recognises the importance
of access to justice and makes its expeditious delivery one of its key
pillars.
A systematised approach to
delivering access to justice has
been codified in the Judiciary
Transformation Framework,
the blueprint for bringing the
Judiciary into line with the
demands of the Constitution.
3.1 Simplifying Court Procedures
Court procedures are steps taken in presenting a claim, either by an