Facing mounting skepticism about its neutrality and impartiality, the Caribbean Community’s highest appeals court has moved to dampen allegations about its chief justice picking judges to sit on particular cases while excluding others.

A week after several judges accused Court President Winston Anderson of unjustly fiddling with judicial panels hearing some cases, the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) says this practice has now been abandoned to allow all seven panel judges to preside in criminal, civil, and trade disputes.

The late Wednesday announcement stated that the new system goes into “immediate effect” as “under the new arrangements, all judges of the court will sit on all panels, subject to a judge being formally excused from sitting for a legitimate reason,” a formal announcement stated.

In rejecting panel fixing allegations, Anderson said he was also rejecting “entirely the suggestion that panels of this court have been constituted or altered to secure predetermined outcomes."

"Such allegations are unsupported by the facts, inconsistent with the court’s long-established practices, and contrary to the principles upon which this court has operated since its establishment,” he said. "However, to put this matter to rest, going forward, every judge of the court will be required to sit on every panel, unless the judge opts out for a legitimate reason and is excused."

Jamaica-born Anderson, the head of the court for just over a year, has been facing withering criticism from his colleagues, who both accuse him of acting like an authoritarian leader or dictator and of trying to influence decisions in some cases. The chief justice denied the charges in a formal statement last week.

The nasty but unexpected row broke out in early August after the Trinidad Express newspaper carried verbatim complaints from several judges citing their alleged discomfort with operations at the regional apex court. The judges had also been feuding over the mode of dress when in formal sessions.

Authorities have since announced plans for a mini commission of inquiry to probe the allegations as they have come in the midst of a major row in Jamaica where the governing labor party has stoutly refused to make any effort for the island to join the court because of doubts about its impartiality and the closeness of judges to regional politicians.

The latest CCJ announcement came hours after Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua said authorities there have no plans to seek a referendum to determine whether the country should also join the court alongside Guyana, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, and St. Lucia as the only ones so far for criminal and civil cases. None of the other member nations have signaled any immediate or near future plans to accede to the court.