Senate Approves Bill to Validate Interim Payment Orders

The Senate, on Friday (May 18), passed the Judicature (Supreme Court) (Validation and Amendment) Act, 2012, with two amendments, during its sitting at Gordon House.

Piloted by Justice Minister, Senator the Hon. Mark Golding, the Bill seeks to regularize certain provisions outlined in Section 441A of the now repealed Judicature (Civil Procedure Code) Law, which had empowered the Supreme Court to make an order for interim payment.

In outlining the details, Senator Golding explained that the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court, acting under the Judicature (Rules of Court) Act, initiated the Civil Procedures Rules, 2002, which provided, in Part 17, for the procedure to obtain an interim payment order, the circumstances in which the order may be made and, the factors to be considered.

The Senate was advised that the Judicature (Civil Procedure Code) Law was repealed in 2003 to make way for the Civil Procedure Rules, 2002. However, an inadvertent consequence of this was that the provision under Section 441A of the Judicature (Civil Procedure Code) Law, which gave the Supreme Court the power to make an interim payment order, was removed and not replaced.

The Bill seeks to address the situation by amending the Judicature Act to restore the previous provision, thereby enabling the making of orders for interim payments.

By Douglas McIntosh, JIS Reporter