Although Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said the government has made provisions for the appointment of additional judges, Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett said the government's push to have 10 criminal courts running simultaneously by the end of this year would be "problematic".
However, Sir Michael agrees there ought to be additional courts dealing with criminal matters.
"I think 10 by the end of this year is unrealistic at this stage," he said yesterday following a swearing in ceremony for Senior Justice Jon Isaacs, who was appointed a justice of the Court of Appeal.
"But certainly, we can increase the number from presently six to possibly eight. We need to put a lot of things in place for that to be done.
"It's not easy to conduct a criminal trial because you know you have to have jurors, you have the wider bar.
"A lot of things [have] to be contemplated to enable that to be done. So that is the objective, to increase the number of courts dealing with criminal trials.
"Whether we can do 10 by the end of this year is probably problematic. But there is a need to increase the number of courts to deal with criminal matters."
Underscoring the limited number of cases that are heard in criminal courts on an annual basis, Prime Minister Perry Christie said last year the government wanted 10 courts by the end of this year.
Maynard-Gibson, who was also at the swearing in ceremony, said the government has put measures in place for additional judges to be appointed.
"The budget allocation has been made and the appointment process itself is now a matter for the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) and the chief justice who chairs that commission," she said.
Sir Michael said judges are doing what they can to speed up trials.
"All you can do is continue to try to do as many [trials] as you can bearing in mind that the interest of justice requires hearing both sides and to ensure that procedural regularities are complied with to ensure at the end of the day, it's a matter that can withstand the scrutiny of the interest of justice," he said.
Sir Michael added that the civil side must not be neglected.
"The largest volume of work we do in the Supreme Court are domestic and family matters," he said. "They are very important. You can not underestimate the importance of having those matters heard and determined quickly.
"They involve family and they involve children...We can't ignore that part of the work of the court."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian