HOA did not receive a verbatim transcript within last five years
Appearing before the SFC was Ms. Paula Ajarie, Registrar of the Supreme and Commercial Courts. The Member for the Third District Julian Fraser RA, queried of the Registrar whether the Supreme Court was responsible for the Court Reporting Unit to which Ms. Ajarie responded in the affirmative.
Hon. Fraser then asked why the HOA had not received a verbatim transcript within the last five years, to which the Registrar informed the body that the Court Reporting Unit was under quite a lot of pressure. The Minister for Health and Social Development Ronnie W. Skelton enquired what type of problem the Unit was experiencing.
The Registrar informed that the Territory had three courts and the Unit presently had five Court Reporters. She explained that along with the usual court assizes, the Court Reporters had to work when the Court of Appeal was in session therefore, four courts were operating simultaneously. Ms. Ajarie told the group that the Court Reporters also helped with the SFC proceedings therefore, they had a hectic workload and were under quite a tremendous amount of pressure.
To this, Minister Skelton queried whether the courts had preference over the HOA as it relates to the submission of reports from the Court Reporting Unit. The Registrar stated that based on her answer she did not imply that the courts had more preference over the HOA . She stated that the Unit was making every effort in assisting the HOA and was given a three-day deadline to complete the verbatim reports, however, they had requested an extension in completing the reports which was brought to the attention of the Speaker.
The Registrar informed the SFC that she was startled when she learnt that the transcripts had not been produced for the five year period. She explained that when she investigated the matter she was informed that different reporters had done different portions of the HOA sittings and they were trying to recover from each person who worked on the transcripts the portions that they had completed to compile the transcripts.
Meanwhile, Minister for Education and Culture Myron V. Walwyn asked whether anyone from the HOA had liaised with the Department about the completion of the transcripts or whether the transcripts were not produced over the five year period as a result of no one paying close attention to the completion of them. To this, Ms. Ajarie informed the Committee that the completion of transcripts for the five year period was brought to her attention over the summer by the Clerk of the HOA.
Ms. Ajarie also told the SFC that no one from the HOA enquired about the status of the transcripts during the five year period in responds to a question from Minister Walwyn.
The Education Minister also asked the Registrar to write to him and advise on how many Court Reporters were needed for the Unit because there are over 490 unemployed young persons in the Territory. He also requested that Ms. Ajarie write to him outlining what the Department’s long term goals were so that persons could be identified to study court reporting.
In addition, the Minister for Education and Culture also asked about the Department‘s succession plan. To this, the Registrar Ms. Ajarie, a Jamaican National, told the HOA Select Committee on the Budget that her Department had a succession plan implemented. She explained that the Department had a Deputy Registrar who was expected to succeed the Registrar in due time.
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