THERE WILL be several new appointments to the judiciary effective January 8, 2001.Attorney-at-law Roy Anderson, of the Kingston law firm Myers, Fletcher and Gordon, has been appointed Judge of the Revenue Court.
Lloyd Hibbert, Q.C., Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, and Senior Resident Magistrate Norma McIntosh have been appointed Puisne Judges. They have been appointed to fill two of the four additional posts in the judiciary which were created by the government early this year.
The other appointments will be made later in the year. Two lawyers from the private Bar are being considered for one of the two posts.
Mr. Justice Algernon Smith has been appointed to act as a Judge of the Court of Appeal in place of Mr. Justice Seymour Panton who is going on vacation leave.
Mr. Justice Howard Cooke is to act as Senior Puisne Judge. Mr. Justice Lloyd Ellis, the Senior Pusine Judge, will be going on vacation leave next month. Mr. Justice Cooke's appointment is once again causing raised eyebrows in legal circles as he has been given the appointment over four Puisne Judges who are senior to him. He acted twice this year as a Court of Appeal Judge.
The appointments took place last week at a meeting of the Judicial Services Commission of which Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe is the chairman.
Mr. Anderson's appointment is to fill the vacancy created by the death of Mr. Justice Courtenay Orr in April this year.
Some lawyers complained last month that cases were piling up in the Revenue Court as no judge had been appointed to that court. The Act governing the Revenue Court barred other Puisne Judges from hearing revenue cases as it stipulated that they must be versed in tax law.
Section 6 (1) of the Judicature (Revenue Court) Act states: "The judge of the Court shall be a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Governor-General acting on the advice of the Judicial Services Commission being a person appearing to be versed in the law relating to Income Tax.
The Revenue Court has been in existence since May 18, 1972.
