Sweeping changes are in store that will affect the administration of justice in T&T.
The Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (AGLA) is set to proclaim six key amendments to the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act, 2011, (AJIPA) on December 12, in a move welcomed by the Judiciary.
“This has been preceded by decades of discussions, stakeholder engagements, policy developments, legislative amendments and more recently sensitization sessions in collaboration with the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago,” the AGLA said in a release yesterday.
It also said the proclamation of the AJIPA, which abolishes preliminary enquiries, would “reduce case backlog, ease the burden on witnesses and significantly eliminate the wastage of time and resources in the disposal of indictable matters.”
“The citizens of Trinidad and Tobago can now anticipate a thoroughly reformed, highly streamlined, and entirely operational pre-trial system that has been under development for several decades,” it added.
The changes have been the subject of stakeholder discussions this week at the Police Academy Gymnasium, St James and the Waterfront Judicial Centre.
Among those being exposed to how the amendments would work are members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, the Public Defenders Department, the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, the Criminal Bar Association, the Tobago Lawyers Association, the Forensic Science Centre and the Prison Service.