Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves has praised successful efforts to clear the backlog of cases waiting to be heard at Supreme Court.

Speaking at the close of Monday's monthly arraignments session, Mr. Justice Greaves praised a new and more efficient system of listing cases, which has helped to ease the problem.

He said that by the end of August this year, it appeared that everyone within Supreme Court for trial will have their case heard within three months.

"That's very good for us all, and cannot be achieved without cooperation from defence and prosecution counsel," he added.

In response, Director of the Department of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham Allen also thanked defence lawyers for their assistance in achieving this.

She said 37 cases had been carried over from 2005 into this year, with 16 new indictments filed so far in 2006 ? a total of 53 matters to be dealt with.

By the end of the first quarter of the year, 23 of these cases had already been disposed of, she said.

"With continuing cooperation from all parties concerned in the criminal justice system, we have every reason to believe that by the end of the year there will be absolutely nothing you can deem to be a backlog in these courts," she added.

Last December, Chief Justice Richard Ground had said that the waiting time for prisoners on remand remained twice as long as was reasonable, at six months.

Speaking earlier that year, Mrs Graham Allen told of her aim to ensure that there was no backlog at all by 2007.