Judiciary
SOME lawyers on Wednesday in Lagos urged the judiciary to be firmer in justice administration by throwing out fast, applications capable of obstructing justice delivery.
The lawyers spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on filing of frivolous applications by lawyers and the impacts of such applications on justice delivery.
The President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr Malachy Ugwummadu, noted that judges possessed the power to dictate the pace of proceedings in their respective courtrooms.
He said that it was the duty of judges to strike out applications with bad intentions on justice administration.
“Without any interference, judges are expected to be firm and impartial in the management of the proceedings.
“The courts must remain focused on the merit of cases, and figure out legitimate ways to discountenance applications aimed at stalling proceedings,” he said.
Ugwummadu urged collaboration between the bar and bench in an effort to eliminate delays.
“The courts must strengthen collaborations with the leadership of the bar in enforcing the provisions of the Rules of Professional Ethics, particularly those that prohibit deliberate tactics to delay proceedings of courts.
“The courts should exploit the laws, rules of courts and practice directions to extract undertakings for damages in the event that certain applications turn out to be both frivolous and false,” he said.
He said that in extreme cases of filing frivolous applications, sanctions could be meted out on erring lawyers, urging that the sanctions should include striking out of erring lawyers’ names from the roll.
Ugwummadu also suggested that courts should ensure prompt payment of penalties imposed against filing of frivolous applications and delay of proceedings.
Mr Godwin Adelemoni, Managing Partner of the Beacon Solicitors, said that much still needed to be done by litigants, lawyers, judges, registrars, judiciary workers and governments to improve Nigeria’s judicial system.
“We have a judicial system where judges have hundreds of cases, and lawyers go to court most times to wait hours for their cases to be called for mention.
“Procedural rules still give room for delays, and there are too many loopholes for lawyers to employ for delay.
“We have a very long way to go, I suggest we don’t lay all the blames on judges.
“The procedure of filing and hearing cases, including delivering rulings and judgements, should be digitised,” he said.
Adelemoni, however, urged judges to notify lawyers ahead of time when their courts would not sit. He said that the measures would facilitate justice delivery. (NAN)
– Apr. 10, 2019 @ 13:59 GMT |
Tags: How frivolous applications should be treated – lawyers
