Do not postpone cases unreasonably — CJ

PUTRAJAYA: Chief Justice Tun Raus Sharif yesterday reminded judges against postponing their cases unreasonably.

He said the culture and practice of postponing cases should not exist in the judiciary.

“Another reform initiated by the judiciary is to ensure hearing of cases is not simply postponed. This culture of postponing cases should be addressed.

“Courts in countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Singapore, the culture of postponing cases does not exist,” he said in his speech in conjunction with the presentation of the instrument of appointment to seven new judicial commissioners at the Palace of Justice here.

Raus said when cases had been fixed for hearing, they should be heard and decided without delay.

Judges should conduct their case management well to ensure no postponement in cases already fixed for hearing, he added.

Raus said the no postponement policy had been practised by the Federal Court and acknowledged that it was difficult initially, but now there was no postponement in almost 100 per cent of cases at the court.

“For example, last week, the Federal Court sat in Kota Kinabalu for five days from Monday to Thursday. There were 43 cases fixed for hearing, and proceeding well, except for one, which had to be postponed because of a lawyer from Miri who has no permit to work in Sabah.

“I hope this culture will be emulated at the Court of Appeal, the high Court and all levels of the court,” he said.

The chief justice also advised judges to make their decision carefully and fairly based on the law and facts, as well as to make their judgment promptly and that the judgment should be easily understood.

“If all these are not given attention, our decisions will be questioned and as a result, the confidence and trust of the society for the judiciary will be eroded,” he added.

He said this was because the society had high hope for the judiciary and most of the court decisions were scrutinised and analysed by the society through the print and electronic media.

Hence, the need for decisions to be made carefully, he added.

Raus said since 2008, the judiciary had made reforms to ensure it continued to be efficient, as well as respected and trusted by the society.

Earlier, seven judicial commissioners took their oath of office and loyalty.

They included Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin, 48, who began his career as a deputy public prosecutor and the federal counsel at the Attorney-General’s Chambers. His last post was Deputy Chief Executive at the Securities Commission.

The other is Datuk Mohd Radzi Harun, 53, who began his career and the last post was Special Commissioner of Income Tax, Finance Ministry.

The other five are Datuk Aliza Sulaiman, 51, Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, 52, and three lawyers, namely Wong Chee Lin, 57, Darryl Goon Siew Chye, 61, and Dr Lim Hock Leng, 55. - Bernama