Registry Department needs upgrading

03.JUNE.11

Editor: For many, many years, the Registry has been in a deplorable condition.{{more}} First, the Search Room is very cramped for the number of Search Clerks and the public who carry out searches every day. They are practically breathing in each other’s faces; there is hardly any space to walk.

Some staff members at the Registry, specifically within the Vault, do absolutely nothing. The Junior Members within the Vault carry out the bulk of the work, and this is unfair. There are two Senior Members who work through their lunch hour, and then both of them go for lunch from 1pm to 2pm; which I find to be foolish, for e.g. a person who requests a “loose leaf deed” between the hours of 1pm to 2pm has to wait until these two members return from their lunch break, due to the fact that they are the only two staff members who have access to those deeds.

Some members of staff come into work late and then make breakfast while the public is kept waiting. The Computer Room has become their lunch room. It was said that the Registrar of the High Court instructed persons to eat their lunches over at the High Court Office where there is a lunchroom. But up to now, this offer has not been taken up by staff members, and they continue eating among important documents.

In 2011, I drew to the Prime Minister’s attention when he was on his way to Parliament the conditions of the Vault door; to date, the Vault door cannot be locked. The Registry is the most important Department in the Public Service and yet is left to be run-down, for the past umpteen years. It is time that some drastic measures be put in place to uplift the Registry Department. As a member of the public who uses the Registry Department every day, I am very worried that people’s documents are being stored in dangerous conditions, and documents go missing every day. It is so serious a concern that I write this letter hoping that some drastic measures would be taken speedily before it is too late.



Chow