CJ Alleear inspects the guard of honour

All four judges will be able to hear cases simultaneously after the acquisition by the judiciary of an additional court room.

This will help to clear the backlog of cases at the Supreme Court according to Chief Justice Vivekanand Alleear (CJ), who said the new courtroom became available after refurbishment of an office at the Liaison Unit for Non-governmental Organisations (Lungos) headquarters. A magistrate will be based there, freeing a courtroom at the main Supreme Court building.

Making the announcement during his speech to mark the re-opening of the Supreme Court Monday September, Justice Alleear said the refurbishment had cost the judiciary R150,000.

He said that other measures taken to expedite the hearing of cases included the display of judges' names outside their respective courtrooms so that people did not waste time looking for the venue of their cases.

Also for the purpose of further speeding up cases, CJ Alleear called on a change in the Constitution that would allow the court to appoint lawyers for respondents requiring legal aid, thereby doing away with a provision that stipulates that legal counsels need to be of clients' choice.

Justice Alleear said that frivolous appeals that waste courts' time and unnecessarily raise the hopes of convicts should not be lodged, saying this would not only benefit the convicts but also prevent clogging up of the system unnecessarily and ease pressure on requests for legal assistance.

Between August 2002 and August 2003, a total of 3,365 cases were filed in all courts in Seychelles. These were claims, divorce, constitutional, rent, criminal, civil, traffic, appeal  and juvenile cases. Out of those, 1,901 were dealt with while 1,464 were still pending.

Justice Alleear said there were 32 lawyers in private practice, 10 state counsels, four judges and three magistrates in Seychelles.

He welcomed the recent election of lawyer Philip Boulle as chairman of the Bar Association of Seychelles following which the judiciary and the organisation had "pooled their experiences and successfully tackled some thorny problems which had bedevilled the legal profession for a long time."

"For instance, we have together found a very workable and practical method for effecting service of summonses and execution of judgements," he said, thanking Mr Boulle and the association "for the many fruitful suggestions they made during meetings and discussions."

Monday's ceremony to mark the re-opening of the Supreme Court began with a church service at St Paul's Cathedral after which members of the legal profession took part in a procession led by the National Brass Band from the cathedral to the Supreme Court, where the chief judge inspected a guard of honour before delivering his speech.

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