Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia recently made it known that the aim is to get 80 to 100 judges sitting on the bench by 2020 so that all provinces in the country have a resident judge.

Facilities and manpower go hand in hand in service delivery and the higher judiciary is seeing a lot of development in delivering justice to the people.

Currently there are 39 judges on the bench, an increase of 20 appointments since Sir Salamo became the Chief Justice.   

The Chief Justice said the courts have cleared its decks and the upcoming elections will go without any backlog of any election petition related matters.

Speaking during the 2017 Legal Year opening, Sir Salamo told agencies of the Law and Justice Sector that this year presents a special challenge, as it has always been the case, when the third arm of government, the executive arm’s term in parliament comes to an end.

“Our responsibilities are clear, because you and I will uphold the constitution and ensure there is a fair and free election,” said Sir Salamo.

The morning started with a march from the Jack Pidik Park at Five-Mile to the Sione Kami Memorial Church, were a service was held.

Members of the Judiciary, Lawyers, Disciplinary forces and the Correctional Institute were reminded of their role, which is to protect and uphold the constitution of this country so that PNG remains an independent and viable democracy.

Justice Harold Terrence Foulds will serve as a judge in PNG for a term of three years.

He signed instruments of his appointment, read and signed his declaration of office, loyalty and judiciary declaration at Government house last Friday.

The event was witnessed by Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio in the presence of other judges, including Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia.

A unanimous decision of the three-man Supreme Court bench was handed down today at 1.30pm, a short time after another Supreme Court bench consisting of three other judges dismissed the appeal filed by 40-year police veteran Toami Kulunga against his conviction and sentence.

While Kulunga will serve his seven months’ jail term at Bomana for contempt of court charges, Vaki is now a free man after the Supreme Court set aside his conviction and sentence, acquitting him on two charges of contempt of court.

He said bail being sought from the courts on grounds of medical condition is becoming a common practice. It has developed over time in just every bail application involving high level people imprisoned for serious offences.

Sir Salamo made these comments when he refused bail to Western Governor Ati Wobiro, former Western Provincial Administrator Dr Modowa Gumoi and founder of Fly Care Inc. Norman May on Thursday by the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia, Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika and other judges received her honour’s casket at 2pm after it arrived on board PX 004 from Brisbane, Australia.

The late judge’s husband, John Arthur Davani, was pushed out in a wheelchair, along with family members behind the casket, to a crowd of mourners before member of the PNG Defence Force carried her honour’s casket behind the Correctional Service pipe band.

Her body was taken to the funeral home where it will be kept.

A hearing date for the application on standing, or right, was set by the Supreme Court this morning for Oct 28.

Polye, as the applicant, was directed by the Court today to prepare, file and serve application books in accordance to the index book which was endorsed by the Supreme Court today.

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia told parties to file extracts of their arguments by Monday, Oct 24, before the hearing takes place next Friday.

This is because a case before court is no longer an issue at this stage.

Sir Salamo told the lawyer, Emmanuel Asigau of Pacific Legal Group, to go back and get proper instructions from his client, General Secretary of the Peoples’ National Congress Edward Mike Jondi.

Jondi filed the application in March asking the Court to interpret section 142 (Prime Minister) section 143 (Acting Prime Minister), and 145 (Motions of no confidence) of the Constitution.

Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia allowed a final adjournment to parties in the case to next Monday, Oct 17.

A hearing date to address the issue of standing is expected to be set next week.

This is in relation to the case that Polye re-filed, challenging the legality of the Government’s decision to acquire the K3 billion loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland.