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Pramila Patten
<I>Lawyer</I>
What are the developments in connection with the establishment of the Family Court?</B>
In December 2005, I submitted a report on the “Reform of the Family Justice System in Mauritius”, to the Government. The series of consultative meetings with the judiciary and other stakeholders was extremely positive in that interesting and important suggestions were added to my recommendations.
Since then, I have been appointed as Consultant at the Ministry of Justice. I have been assigned with the responsibility of drafting all the laws in connection with the establishment of the Family Court. At the end of July 2006, I submitted the draft Family Court Bill to the Minister of Justice. This is an important piece of legislation which, once enacted, will enable the Government to establish the Court. The Bill deals with the establishment of the Court, the principles to be applied by the Court, its structure and jurisdiction as well as the appointment, qualifications, tenure of office, powers and duties of Judges.
It also addresses the powers of the Court as well as the question of procedure before the Family Court.
What sort of welcome has the draft Bill had?</B>
I met the Attorney General last week and we discussed the first draft Bill. The Minister will soon be launching a series of consultative meetings with appropriate stake holders before submitting the Bill to Parliament.
I am now working on a major draft bill which is the Family Law Bill. It is an important part of my assignment as it entails a review of all laws relating to family matters. Many changes will be brought to existing laws, such as the laws on divorce. Divorce by mutual consent will be introduced. The Family Law Bill will also entail a consolidation of all laws dealing with family matters.
On Friday, you had a meeting with the Minister of Justice, Lord Mackay and members of the Law Reform Commission… Could you tell us more about it?</B>
Lord Mackay produced an excellent report in 1997. Unfortunately implementation of his recommendations has been quite poor. The revival of Lord Mackay’s report is an excellent initiative on the part of the Attorney General. It is evidence of his commitment to modernize our justice system. Many areas of concern in our current system were discussed at that meeting. Poor implementation of the previous report was acknowledged and a real commitment to accelerate the implementation of Lord Mackay’s recommendations was expressed.
In what ways will the implementation of the Mackay report be beneficial?</B>
Long overdue reforms will be brought in, the overall effect of which will be in the interest of the public at large. For example, the problem of delays in the present system has received priority attention. This is a major concern expressed by the public in general. Another positive aspect is that the approach is not a piecemeal one or a quick fix one. The problems that exist in the current system are being addressed fully and reforms will be brought in accordingly to improve the system as a whole.
But will the Mackay report be implemented in full? </B>
I think this question should be addressed to the Attorney General. I personally believe that there is a genuine commitment to focus on implementation. This is why the previous report has not been ignored at all; although implementation may well come in stages in terms of priority, it is the system, which at the end of the day, will be improved considerably.
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