Staff Reporter
THERE are not enough judges to manage the cases subjected to the Judicial Case Management (JCM) system, which was introduced to accelerate case finalisations and reduce litigation costs.
This was highlighted by the 2021/2022 Annual Report of the Office of the Judiciary that aims to outline the judiciary’s efforts to ensure that court users have access to justice.
The report also aims to provide an update on the progress made in line with the judiciary’s commitment to the principle of transparency and accountability.
According to the annual report, a total number of 2 152 cases were carried over from previous legal years in the beginning of the 2021 legal year. An additional 2 731 matters were then added to the JCM roll during the legal year, bringing the total number of cases on the roll to 4 883.
Of the 4 883 cases, the judges managed to finalise 2 951, representing a finalisation rate of 60% of all cases subjected to JCM during 2021. This is an increase from the finalisation rate of the 2020 legal year, which was 55%.
The report further revealed that the judges in the action stream managed almost 4 000 cases during the 2021 legal year, while the judges in the motion stream managed about 754 cases during the same period. This amounts to approximately 440 cases for every judge in the action stream and about 377 cases for every judge in the motion stream.
“Despite these challenges the judges performed exceptionally well having regard to the on-time delivery of judgments and the finalisation figure of the civil cases,” the report reads.
