There is no sinister motive behind the appointment of High Court judges sitting on the Court of Appeal panel.
Legal sources say there are misleading reports that Judge John Byrne, Judge Isikeli Mataitoga and Judge Davendra Pathik cannot sit for the current Appeals court cases.
According to section 127 of the 1997 constitution, the Court of Appeal consists of a judge, other than the Chief Justice, who is appointed as President of the Court of Appeal, other judges appointed as Justices of Appeal and the puisne judges of the High Court.
Based on this section, our legal sources say constitutionally members of the high court are also members of the Appeals Court.
We have received confirmation that the new President of the Court of Appeal will be appointed in due course.
Meanwhile there is also confirmation that other judges will be brought in from a variety of jurisdictions for the High Court positions, other than Australia and New Zealand.
There are steps being taken to try to get operational judges more than retired judges.
Nothing Sinister on Judges’ appointment
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