JUDICIARY Latest Features

Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart Katureebe

KAMPALA: The Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Bart M. Katureebe, has directed all judicial officers to deliver pending judgements and clear backlog cases within 18 months.  He also appointed Court of Appeal's Hon. Justice Richard Buteera to chair the newly established the Case Backlog Reduction Monitoring Committee, which will oversee Judiciary's Case Backlog Strategy.

Citing recommendations in a March 29, 2017 report by the Case Backlog Reduction and Elimination Committee, Chief Justice Katureebe said he was putting in place a"mechanism to eradicate case backlog and delays in delivery of judgements".  The Committee had earlier on (in October 2016)been assigned by the CJ to identify the extent and causes of case backlog,review current efforts to reduce it and recommendations to address the existing backlog and stop the growth of new backlog.

"The Report established that there are 37,827 backlogged cases and many pending judgements, some as long as one year, which needed to be cleared within a very short time,to restore public confidence in the administration of justice," writes Hon. Justice Katureebe.

In a circular dated April 28, 2017  addressed to Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Judges of the High Court, all Registrars,Chief Magistrates and Magistrates Grade I and II in the various courts across the country.  "In accordance with the powers conferred upon the Chief Justice under article 133(1) (b) of the Constitution, I hereby direct that:

1. All Judicial Officers who have pending judgements as per the Judiciary Court Case Census Report of December 2015 should deliver those judgements by June 30, 2017.
2. All judgements pending beyond 60 days as at June 30, 2017 should be delivered by August 30, 2017.
3. The obligation to report progress on delivery of pending judgements and backlogged cases in paragraph 1, 2 and 3, above lies on both the individual Judicial Officer and his/her Supervisor. For Avoidance of doubt, the following criteria shall be applicable:
• For Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, the respective Registrars shall report to the Chief Justice with copies to the Deputy Chief Justice in case of the Court of Appeal,and to the Judge in charge of administration in case of the Supreme Court.
• Judges of the High Court and all Registrars, Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars shall report to the Chief Justice through the Principal Judge with copies to the Chief Registrar.
• Chief Magistrates shall report to the Chief Registrar with copies to the Registrars in charge of their respective Circuits.
• Magistrates Grade One and Grade Two shall report to the Chief Registrar through their Chief Magistrates with copies to the Circuit Registrars.
4. The Reports shall be filed monthly by the 5th day of the following month.
5. Judicial officers who contravene this circular will be sanctioned under the Judicial Service Commission Regulations S.I. No. 87 of 2005.
6. In the rarest of circumstances and upon furnishing sufficient cause, a judicial officer who is unable to complete his or her judgements within the given time frame may request the Chief Justice in writing to extend the time for delivery of the judgements.
7. Any judicial officer who is due to retire in the next six months and has more than 30 pending judgements in case of a trial Court and 15 pending judgements in case of an appellate Court should cease to take on any new cases.