The Principal Judge Dr. Flavian Zaija has ordered High Court Judge Stephen Mubiru to stop hearing fresh cases until he clears a total of 170 pending judgments and rulings before him.
In a December 01 letter, Dr. Zaija says that after a meeting of heads of High Court divisions and Case Backlog Management Committee, on November 23 and 24, it was resolved that the Principal Judge writes to all High Court judges with pending rulings and judgements after the judiciary received several complaints from litigants of delayed justice.
In his letter Dr. Zaija notes that Justice Mubiru has on the record, the highest number of undelivered rulings as of November 22.
“Therefore, in accordance with Section 20 (1) of the Judicature Act Cap 13, I hereby direct as follows; 1. Your allocated workload at High Court Commercial Division is effective December 05, 2023 restricted to only pending judgments and rulings”
The Principal Judge gave Justice Mubiru 60 days to clear the pending business.
According to current statistics, the judiciary currently faces a backlog of 43,617 cases that have been in the system for many years.
In Uganda, a case is considered backlogged if it has spent more than two years in the justice system without being concluded by the courts of law.
The Principle Judge’s directive come hot on the heels of a ruling he made against Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) involving Ug.Shs.26 Bn which is to be attached following a garnishee order .
The Uganda Law Society has criticised the Principal Judge arguing that his directives to Justice Mubiru are illegal and undermine the principles of judicial independence . In a letter signed by the ULS President Bernard Oundo , the Law Society has called for a meeting to ” deliberate on the subject matter and other related aspects concerning the administration of justice.”
