KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 – The number of judges will be gradually reduced after the full implementation of the four electronic systems in courts, aimed at overcoming the backlog of cases, the chief justice said today.
Tun Zaki Tun Azmi said the electronic systems – e-filing, court management system (CMS), court recording transcription (CRT) and queue management system (QMS) – is expected to assist the judges to speedily dispose of cases at between three to four times faster than the current system.
The four electronic systems costing RM69 million, have begun to be implemented in all the 166 courts in Kuala Lumpur, and are expected to be implemented in Shah Alam, Penang and Johor Baharu by year-end before being expanded to other states, he said.
Zaki was speaking to reporters after officiating the new commercial courts (NCC) in Jalan Duta’s Courts Complex here.
He said with the new systems, the civil and commercial cases which were filed today, would be disposed off faster, while judges who had finished hearing old cases, will be removed to hear new cases.
“Once we dispose off the backlog in cases, we cannot keep up with the increase in the number (of judges). It is very expensive. A judge’s salary and his costs are not cheap. I expect the judge alone to cost about RM50,000, including car, plus the secretary, office, may be RM60,000 to RM70,000,” he said.
Currently, there are 133 judges in the country, from the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Court, including Judicial Commissioners, he said.
With the four electronic systems, Zaki said, the e-filing would enable electronic handling of filing the cases, while the CMS is more for case scheduling, case management, trial management, enquiry management and other court administrative functions.
Under the CMS, the public and lawyers would be able to make online checks and under the QMS, the court could call the cases via short message systems to the lawyers.
The CRT provides electronic recording of witnesses’ testimonies without the judges having to write it, and thus helps to reduce the time taken for the judges to write the testimonies, especially in criminal cases.
With these aids, Zaki said, the judges in criminal cases would only need to hear the evidences, and they would save the court’s time, as well as the witnesses.
“With CRT, I also could monitor the proceedings in court from my office in Putrajaya. Nobody can deny whatever you have said as it is recorded. If the lawyers want the CRT, they can ask the court to supply (it to them) after the proceedings,” he said. – Bernama
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
Unfortunately, the Company did not get this national project.