The Tribune

THE Judicial and Legal Service Commission has defended the process behind the selection of newly appointed judges and magistrates.

After the JLSC announced the appointments in May, there was criticism and speculation in some quarters.

The commission said given the essential role of an independent judiciary, “it is important that the public discourse on the appointment of judicial officers take place on the basis of accurate information.”

The JLSC is an independent constitutional commission made up of five members. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the Governor-General acting on the advice of the commission under article 94(2) of the Constitution. Members of the other two branches of government have no role to play in the appointment of justices of the Supreme Court under article 94(2), the group said.

Stipendiary and circuit magistrates are appointed by the Governor-General acting on the advice of the commission under section 13 of the Magistrates Act. Similar to the appointment of justices of the Supreme Court, members of the executive and legislative branches of government have no role to play in the appointment of magistrates, the group said.

The commission said vacancies for substantive judicial appointments were advertised through the media in order “to create a level playing field for all persons who are interested in applying for such positions”.

“It was determined that this would be a more transparent process than privately inviting specific persons to apply for vacant positions in the judiciary and is also in conformity with international best practices and in adherence with the Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles relating to substantive judicial appointments by an independent commission.”

The JLSC said under this procedure, “no individual person was in a preferred position for appointment either as a justice of the Supreme Court or a magistrate as all applicants were required to apply in the same way in response to the public notices.”

The commission said it received a number of applications in response to the two notices. “The members of the commission carefully reviewed and considered all applications which were received within the time periods specified in the respective notices before making their decision to advise the Governor-General to make the appointments which were announced on May 27, 2021.

“In order to protect the integrity of the process and to be fair to all applicants, only persons who had submitted a completed and signed application form within the relevant time periods were considered for the appointments by the members of the commission. Convention and propriety preclude the public disclosure of the detailed deliberations of the commission. “However, it can be stated that each member exercised his/her independent judgment when discharging his/ her duties throughout the appointment process.

“In view of the recent appointments to the Supreme Court, the office of registrar of the Supreme Court and the office of coroner will be vacant. Public notices will be issued through the media inviting interested qualified persons to apply for each of these posts. No decisions on appointments to these posts have been made or will be made prior to the consideration of all applications for each of these posts received by the commission within the time periods specified in the respective public notices.”

In May, it was announced that Governor General C A Smith has made ten new judicial appointments.