This was revealed by Chief Justice Zaki Azmi at the swearing-in ceremony of eight judicial commissioners who were elevated to High Court judges today.
In his speech, he said among the countries which came forward to study the methods practised by the Malaysian judiciary included Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries such as Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Singapore, Brunei, Bangladesh, Turkey, Nigeria, Seychelles Island, Australia and Canada.
He said the approach introduced by the judiciary since early last year, which were found to be extremely effective in disposing of the backlog of cases included enhancing the competency of judges and court staff, increasing the number of judges and improving infrastructure.
Other steps taken by the judiciary were avoiding frivolous litigation, full utilisation of court working hours, applying judiciously the practice of adjournment of court cases and adoption of alternative dispute redress mechanisms and ending court boycotts.
In view of the judiciary's speedy disposal of cases, Zaki said an invitation was extended to him to give a speech on its adoption of methods, at a conference organised by Asia Pacific Judicial Forum this year.
The four-day conference beginning Oct 25 will be held in Beijing, China.
The chief justice is also expected to give a talk on judicial reforms in Singapore on Oct 4 and 5, this year.
Zaki also disclosed that an article entitled, “The Judiciary”, published on July 16, this year stated that Justice K Chandru of the Madras High Court had managed to single-handedly dispose of 53,000 court cases in the four years that he held office.
That article also stated that the judge had disposed of an average of 1,300 cases every month and in April alone, he delivered 1,474 verdicts.
Zaki said the article also stated that backlog cases could only be removed by taking the steps which the Malaysian judiciary had currently adopted.
New judges
At the ceremony, the eight judicial commissioners were confirmed full-fledged High Court judges, effective today.
They were Abdul Rahman Sebli, Zaleha Yusof, Halijah Abas, Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Kamardin Hashim, Yaacob Md Sam, Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Anantham a/l Kasinather.
Abdul Rahman took his oath before Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum while the rest, before Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria, and witnessed by Zaki.
On postponement of cases, Zaki said parties in a court proceeding should stop complaining that “justice hurried is justice buried” just because their request for postponement was denied by the court.
He said he had been monitoring daily reports and noticed many cases were postponed for flimsy reasons, including reports by chemist or specialist not ready, or documents not being served on time.
Zaki said lawyers also continued to request for postponement, giving reasons that they were just appointed to handle the case or because they were occupied in another court case.
"Why are their cases not ready to move on the dates fixed? Fortunately, those who make these complaints are relatively small. At the end of the day, what the judiciary is doing is aimed at benefiting parties who seek justice before the courts.
"Lawyers who appear on their behalf should also be happy with these positive steps taken, including being strict on postponements," said Zaki.
- Bernama
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