Improved court registry praised

 IMPROVEMENT in the new Lae court registry means improving efficiency in the delivery of service to the public, Justice Don Sawong says.

Sawong said a substantial amount was spent to renovate the registry, which now had 12 new desks with computers. “There is now a comfortable work environment for registry staff and my hope is to realise efficiency,” he said. “It requires everyone serving in the justice system to re-examine the way the administration of justice is conducted to make full and efficient use of available resources.”

In 2005, the judiciary introduced rules to address the backlog of cases by managing and disposing of cases efficiently. Yet members of the legal profession were “yet to know or choose not to know” those rules resulting in a waste of resources leaving cases incomplete. 

Sawong said justice agencies had an obligation to perform all in their power to avoid ‘waste’ and question robustly the requests for adjournments.