State cases without lawyers ‘frustrating’
By ELIZABETH VUVU
IT is frustrating for judges all over the country to be entering judgement against the State when there is no intent to defend the case and there is no appearance for the State when the application for judgment is made.
East New Britain residential judge, Justice Gregory Lay made the comment yesterday during the launching of the New Guinea Islands (NGI regional office of the Solicitor General in Kokopo.
“In fact, I entered judgement against the State in default of appearance of defence only last Friday where all of the appropriate notices appeared to have been properly served.
“There may have been a good defence for the State but it was not represented,” he said.
He said the opening of the new offices should reduce the occasion on which such judgements were entered by default.
“However, having a lawyer on the ground here will not guarantee that the State will be represented. The claims by and against the State Act requires all notices of intention to begin proceedings and all processes to be served in Waigani.
“Unless there is a fool -proof system of passing those served documents promptly onto the provincial office, the system will still fail the State as client,” he said
Justice Lay said the responsibility for properly defending the State does not solely fall on the Solicitor General’s office as the client’s departments of the Sate has a responsibility to provide its facts.
He said judges are aware that one of the difficulties of the Solicitor General’s office is shortage of qualified staff .
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