e-Judiciary system operational in Turks and Caicos Islands

This initiative is geared towards achieving the main goal of the Judiciary which is expanding the access of quality justice to all stakeholders while speeding up court processes and reducing its carbon footprints.

The announcement was made by Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Narendra Lalbeharry, who told The SUN, that in December 2022, the Judiciary secured the services of Caribbean Agency for Justice Solutions (CAJS) as the company to assist in the implementation of e-judiciary, with a new system called Curia.

Lalbeharry said that e-Judiciary is the vision of the Chief Justice Her Ladyship Mabel Agyemang.

“This is a project that the CJ started and it is something she really wants to see fully implemented in terms of being able to allow attorneys, members of the public, police officers, Attorney General Chambers and Office of the DPP and all court users stakeholders to access our services by filing matters in court. The project includes the expansion of the e-judiciary initiative to other islands through the setting up of kiosks in various islands. We are in the process of setting up a kiosk at the Supreme Court and Magistrates Court in Providenciales, the Court building in Grand Turk, one in Middle Caicos and one at North Caicos both at the District Commissioners offices,” he explained.

He continued: “The purpose of these kiosks is to allow self-represented persons to come in to be assisted by our registry staff to fill out necessary documents to be filed electronically through the use of the Curia system. Documents filed become accessible to judges and all court staff.”

Lalbeharry said the ultimate goal/vision of the Chief Justice is essentially to move towards a paperless court system with one of the main objectives being to reduce the carbon footprint while expanding access to justice.

“The ultimate goal and vision is to really move the Judiciary of the TCI into that whole new electronic era in terms of filing electronically and accessing documents electronically. You may not fully move away from paper, but the majority of the court system in terms of filing and accessing documents will be done electronically” he said. “CAJS started working with us in January 2023 and that essentially entailed building a customized system for the Turks and Caicos Islands Judiciary that would allow us to be able to have all stakeholders access the system by filing and accessing documents electronically. The system also allows us to get statistics and reports in terms of all matters filed.”

He added: “In April of 2023 the Supreme Court went live, meaning that from that time, attorneys were be able to file directly on the e-filing portal for all new matters. This meant that rather than having to come to the registry to file the documents physically, they are now allowed to sit in their office and upload their documents directly onto the system, that was primarily for civil matters and as at October 2023 we started to allow all criminal filings to be done on the e-folio system as well. From January 4th 2024 all probate and family matters will also be filed on Curia.”

Meantime, Lalbeharry said running alongside the implementation of the Curia system included in E-Judiciary was a project which involved scanning of hardcopy case files for the last (10) ten years and uploading same onto Curia. To date over 1,200 matters have already been uploaded and filed on Curia.

He added, “Thus far in terms of scanning, we have done from 2017 to 2023 and have scanned over 800 case files. In terms of the benefits, this allows attorneys to access these case files on the e-filing system so that they can see the documents that are filed or even hearings that are taking place and the judges have access to these documents as well. It is very efficient and very useful.”

Lalbeharry assured that the Curia system is quite a user-friendly system. He also said that Magistrates Court went live from November 2023 and they have also commenced scanning of case files. Kiosks set up at the various courts and locations in North and Middle Caicos will allow all persons such as self representing persons, police officers and attorneys to step into any kiosks and initiate a claim at either the Magistrates Court or Supreme Court, including the filing of divorce petitions and estate petitions.

“The feedback in terms of the reactions to the system is that I think most of the attorneys find the system more efficient and more user friendly. It becomes easier and less tedious when they can sit in the comfort of their office and take instructions and just simply upload the documents for filing or be able to access any filed document by simply signing on to Curia.  I think the feedback has been good and I think it’s certainly a system that we can work with to continue to make it better and I am certain that the attorneys will continue to work with the courts to make that system more useful and more efficient.”

He noted that this system in itself is not just for Judiciary and self-represented users, but it will also be able to bring the various arms of the state together and allow them to access the system as one. He said as an example the Curia system is able to create a system and process involving various units and departments. Therefore, criminal matters now begin with the filing of documents by the Magistrates Court which then allow Police Officers and Office of the DPP to add and access documents from any specific case files.

“TCI is way up there in terms of accessibility and digitization of matters. This system I believe is in the Cayman Islands, The Bahamas has adopted it as well and Belize, but it is not just a matter of ranking but it’s a matter of getting where everyone else is. Most countries have moved towards this sort of e-filing and paperless concept, so it’s for the betterment of the country because it allows citizens themselves to be a part of the process,” he said.