00:00A new system is now in effect at the Caribbean Court of Justice.
00:04The court says all of its judges will sit on panels unless a judge is formally excused for a legitimate
00:10reason.
00:10The three panel leaders will be the CCJ president and its two most senior judges.
00:17The court says the revised arrangement is intended to promote consistency, transparency and flexibility
00:23while supporting the efficient administration of justice.
00:26But according to the president of the Assembly of Southern Lawyers, Zaira Lackan, she says,
00:32quote, on its face, the revised arrangement appears to be a simplistic response to the serious,
00:37though disputed, allegation of panel fixing.
00:39The change comes against the backdrop of allegations about how judges were assigned to cases,
00:44allegations the CCJ president, Justice Winston Anderson, has rejected.
00:49But Lackan says the timing of the new arrangement raises questions about whether the reform
00:54was developed as a long-term institutional measure or in response to the controversy
00:59now in the public domain.
01:01She says, quote, it is therefore important to know whether there was meaningful consultation
01:06among the judges and whether proper administrative and efficiency assessments were undertaken
01:11before the change was implemented with immediate effect, end quote.
01:15The new system takes effect immediately with the court providing no transition period in its notice.
01:20Lackan says the success of the arrangement will depend not only on greater transparency,
01:26but also on how the judges themselves were involved in developing it.
01:31She says, quote, against the backdrop of concerns in the public domain about the allegedly heavy-handed
01:37imposition of internal practices, I sincerely hope that this decision was reached collaboratively,
01:43commands the consensus of the court, and represents a workable institutional reform
01:47rather than a temporary response to public controversy.
01:51She warns that changing the panel structure alone may not settle the questions that have emerged
01:57about the court's internal administration.
01:59Lackan says, quote, if, however, this was another unilateral decision taken without meaningful consultation,
02:05it is unlikely to resolve the underlying institutional concerns that have entered the public domain.
02:11For the CCJ, the revised system is now the mechanism governing the assignment of judicial work.
02:16For its critics, however, the issue is whether the new arrangement is the product of genuine institutional reform
02:23or simply the latest response to an escalating controversy.
02:27Lackan says, quote, transparency is essential, but so too are judicial collegiality,
02:32operational efficiency, and public confidence in the court, end quote.
02:36The CCJ says the revised panel arrangements take effect immediately.
02:39The court has not indicated whether further changes to its internal procedures are being considered.
02:45Arvishita Mwari Rupnarein, TV6 News.
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