Acting judges sworn in

Acting Governor-General Theo Zurenouc swore in four acting judges for the National Court at the Government House in Port Moresby yesterday.
The four acting judges are Thomas Anis, Danajo Douglas Salee Koeget, Daniel Yale Liosi and Ravunama Auka.
They were reappointed by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission on Oct 31 as acting judges for the National Court for a second term of 12 months. They were first appointed on Sept 4 last year.
Their appointments were effective on Nov 1 last year after they were sworn in by the governor general.
Judicial and Legal Services Commission chairman and Attorney-General Ano Pala said the judges possessed the required experience and were appointed on their own merits.
“The commission was satisfied that each of them fulfilled the requirements for judicial appointment or reappointment,” Pala said in a statement.
Pala also announced the appointment of two new judges for the National and Supreme Courts that were made on Oct 31 for a term of three years.
They are Jeffrey Leonard Sheppard and Harold Terrance Foulds who are are yet to be sworn into office.
Sheppard was admitted as a lawyer of the National and Supreme Courts on Aug 30, 1983, and practiced with the office of the Public Solicitor.
He later worked with Sheppard Lawyers for eight years until he joined Ashurst PNG (formally known as Blake Dawson Waldron Lawyers).
Foulds was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian territory and all federal courts in 1975.
He was also admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1977 and as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1980.
Pala said the new appointments brought the total number of judges (acting and permanent) to 41 and this would strengthen the judiciary’s capacity to deal with the growing backlog of pending cases.