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Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo on Friday vowed to resolve all ageing cases along with incoming cases before the Supreme Court in the next 24 months by enforcing a decongestion program and adopting what he described as “technology-driven judiciary”.
During his first media briefing since his appointment as top magistrate last April, Gesmundo admitted that there were numerous cases languishing in the docket for several years now.
Gesmundo stressed that he and his fellow magistrates have agreed to adopt a case decongestion program which would require justices to prioritize the resolution of aging cases in the next 24 months.
“Likewise , my fellow justices and I have resolved to decide all petitions, cases, or matter that have been filed before the Supreme Court after April 5, 2021 strictly within the said 24-month period from date of submission pursuant to Section 15 (1), Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, and to strictly observe requirements for the proper exercise of its power of judicial review,” Gesmundo said.
According to him, the High Court has also issued a resolution approving several amendments to Internal Rules of the SC that are intended to ease the Court’s docket.
These include changing the total period of continuances in the deliberation of cases in the SC; prescribing a period of one month within which the members of the Court should submit reflection, comments, or suggestions, and a period of two weeks to resolve thereafter; shortening the period for distribution to the other members of the Court of the Member-in-Charge’s report on a case prior to its scheduled agenda date to at least three working days p; imposing a limit on the nature of administrative cases that can be elevated to the Court en banc.
Gesmundo noted that hiring of more law clerks for the offices of the Justices to help eliminate ageing cases or those already beyond the 24-month constitutional period for deciding cases is now in the pipeline.