By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

CHIEF Justice Ian Winder said he will meet with Bar Association president Khalil Parker before the opening of the next legal year to finalise the proper procedure for handling judicial complaints.

In January, Mr Parker said the chief justice has collaborated with the Bar Council to form a committee to draft a Judicial Complaints Procedure that he expected to be rolled out in the months that followed.

“I have agreed to meet once before the opening of the year to finalise what we’ve already discussed in terms of putting in place the proper procedure for judicial complaints,” Chief Winder said yesterday.

“But there’s always been a procedure for judicial complaints. The Judicial Legal Service Commission under the constitution and the legislation has disciplinary measures in respect of complaints against judges.”

“I think what Mr Parker’s concern is that a process that allows it to flow, where he says legal officers face no repercussions in making that complaint. But there’s always been a procedure and a process for judicial complaints.”

Attorney General Ryan Pinder said last year that he supports a disciplinary system for the judiciary because judges should be held accountable for misconduct like everyone else.

Mr Winder said complaints against judges are examined within the existing system.

“Magistrates and registrars do not have the process in the constitution, but the only way you could remove them is through the establishment of a tribunal,” he said.

“But for disciplinary proceedings with magistrates and registrars as with any law office of the crown, there’s a mechanism and service regulations to deal with those.”