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Mauritius: Expert Witnesses fight For Fees
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L'Express (Port Louis)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Deepa Bhookhun
Port Louis
Expert witnesses called upon to testify in courts have just seen their fees reduced from a sum varying between Rs 150 and Rs 1500, depending on the magistrate's discretion, to Rs 50. A decision of the State Law Office (SLO) that infuriates habitual witnesses who see this as a measure that will do a disservice to justice.
The 'per diem' to witnesses used to range between Rs 150 and Rs 1500 depending on the length and relevance of their testimony and if the case was heard in the District, Intermediate or Supreme Court (as here).
You have just been to the hospital and you think the doctor who examined you was wrong in his diagnosis. And prescribed the wrong medicine. The scenario is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Two medical practitioners have just been interdicted after having allegedly made a wrong diagnosis that may or may not have caused the death of 8-year old Selvee Ghengadoo.
Anyway so you want to sue. The problem is that you will need a doctor willing to come and testify in court that the diagnosis was wrong. This is what we call an expert witness.
Except that nowadays you might have some trouble finding an expert witness willing to testify for you.
The reason is the State Law Office has recently decreed that expert witnesses were only to be given an allowance of Rs 50 a day. For a long time, magistrates have used their discretion to allocate a sum varying between Rs 150 to Rs 1500 per day to witnesses depending on the relevance and length of their testimonial in the District, Intermediate and Supreme Court and between Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for the Assizes court.
"This sum also covers travelling, parking fees, food and drink of the witness to spend the whole day in court. Rs 50 is not enough to cover petrol expenses!" says an outraged expert witness, who has acted as such for the better part of the last 20 years.
"This sum also covers travelling, parking fees, food and drink of the witness to spend the whole day in court. Rs 50 is not enough to cover petrol expenses!" The court regularly calls upon expert witnesses depending on the nature of the cases being heard. Expert witnesses can be doctors, architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, scientists, forensic scientists etc.
This practice has been going on for as long as courts of law have existed and monies paid have depended on the standard of living: "The sum has varied, of course. I remember the time experts used to be paid Rs 2 but then the sum went up as the cost of living went up. Rs 50 was paid some ten years ago and then little by little, the sum was revised upwards", testifies our own witness.
Any change (usually a rise) in the fees is made through regulations to the rules regulating the Expert Witness' Fees. But a few months ago, the State Law Office decided that the courts and tribunals have been misinterpreting the law for the past 10 years and that experts in criminal cases should only be paid Rs 50 and that the sum of Rs 150 to Rs 1500 should only apply to expert witnesses in civil cases.
"Habitual" experts are contesting this decision, claiming it is unfair and contrary to the spirit of quality justice, calling it a "fee-saving device". Letters have been sent to the Attorney General and the Chief Justice, protesting against a measure, witnesses' feel would cause a disservice to the cause of justice. "The quality of justice is closely related to the quality of experts," says the letter.
They think this measure would encourage experts to use "colourable devices" to avoid coming to court. In the same way, retired professionals who often appear as witnesses will have no incentive to come and testify in court "when they will clearly have to subsidize justice as Rs 50 will not be enough to cover their expenses", says our source.
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Attorney General Rama Valayden says he is aware there is "some problem" regarding expert witness' fees "but that the fee will be revised upwards in the budget." To pay witnesses more than Rs 50? "Yes", has replied the minister.
A forensic scientist who regularly acts as an expert witness says. "It is not through the budget that this matter will be settled. The budget will only provide a token sum for witnesses; magistrates have always used their discretion to pay witnesses, based on regulations that have been made. Witnesses' fees need to be determined by a legislation not by the budget", he tells us.
Will the Attorney General give in?
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