Five High Courts to sit on land cases from May 5

Accra, April 10, GNA - With effect from Monday, May 5, 2008 five High Courts in Accra will begin sittings on a daily basis to dispose of land cases which have been pending before the courts for more than one year. The directive of Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, Chief Justice, was contained in a statement signed by Mr Abdullah Iddrisu, acting Judicial Secretary. It said the objective of the exercise was to clear the backlog of land cases before the establishment of specialized Land Courts in October 2008.

The statement said the Land Courts would be mandated to hear only land cases and to that end, selected High Court Judges were presently undergoing training to deal with land-related cases. It said the public was to take note that the Judicial Service would shortly publish in the media a schedule of land cases pending before the courts for hearing. The statement explained that the clearing of the backlog of land cases and the creation of the specialized Land Courts were part of measures being taken by the administration of the Judicial Service to decongest the courts and create the avenue for expeditious trials.