Late filing of cases a growing concern

By JAMES GUMUNO
THE late filing of appeal cases is a concern for the Supreme Court and the appellants, says Justice Mogish Panuel.
He told lawyers to file their cases on time.
Justice Panuel was in Mt Hagen this week for a Supreme Court sitting. He noted appeal cases filed after six months and even two and a half years.
He said something needed to be done to address the problem now.
He blamed lawyers for not doing their jobs, including those in the Public Solicitor’s Office who should be visiting jails and filing appeal cases and registering them at the Waigani Supreme Court.
“This is not the job of the Correctional Services officers to file appeal cases in the Supreme Court. They are not lawyers. How will the prisoners know that their appeals are being filed?” he said.
Justice Panuel said prisoners relied on lawyers to file their appeal cases.
“This needs to be changed otherwise we will have the same problem in the next 20 years,” he said.
He said a major awareness needed to be carried out on this issue.
Justice Panuel said prisoners were supposed to file their appeal 40 days after they were sentenced.
But it was not happening in many cases.
“I wish every jail has a computer network where when an appeal is filed, you press a button and it reaches Waigani straight away,” he said.