|  ©New Straits Times
by V. Anbalagan
PUTRAJAYA: A High Court judge has been given until December to dispose of all outstanding cases, among them a suit to quash the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the controversial Lingam video clip.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff has given Datuk Abdul Kadir Musa (picture) two months' notice to complete partly-heard matters and deliver judgments. Kadir is to be transferred to the High Court in Malacca, where he will begin duty on Dec 15.
His counterpart in Malacca, Datuk Wira Mokhtaruddin Baki, will sit in the Appellate and Special Powers Division, over which Kadir currently presides.
Mokhtaruddin has also been given a similar grace period for partly- heard cases.
The most prominent of Kadir's outstanding cases is the hearing of suits to quash the findings of a royal commission on the Lingam video clip.
Lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, former minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and retired chief justices Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Tun Eusoff Chin had filed separate leave applications to set aside the commission's observations, made public on May 16.
The commission held that the clip showed Lingam in conversation over judicial appointments with Ahmad Fairuz, and that Lingam had asked Tan and Tengku Adnan to involve themselves actively in the appointment of judges.
Kadir is scheduled to hear submissions from lawyers on Oct 16.
Alauddin said sufficient time was given to the judges so they need not return to their previous stations to complete outstanding matters.
"I hope lawyers, too, will extend their cooperation so that the cases on trial will be heard and decided as scheduled," he said.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council welcomed Alauddin's decision to send an additional judge to the Appellate and Special Powers Division.
Judicial commissioner Mohamed Ariff Md Yusof has been assigned as the additional judge to the division.
The Bar's industrial court practice committee deputy chairman, Anand Ponnudurai, said the appointment would go a long way towards reducing the workload of the two existing judges.
"The judges can now distribute the heavy workload and reschedule early trial dates," he said.
On Aug 27, the New Straits Times reported that industrial cases which were registered this year could only be heard in 2015.
In another development, five other judicial commissioners have been posted to help clear the backlog of criminal and civil cases.
They are Datuk Noraini Abdul Rahman and Datuk Zura Yahya (Shah Alam), Datuk Hue Siew Kheng (Johor Baru), Datuk Ho Mooi Ching (Alor Star) and Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli (Kuching). |
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