Speedy hearings: All up to judges

Judges and magistrates should make the right choice in deciding whether or not to speed up the hearing of cases, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

He was commenting on the Bar Council’s decision to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Saturday, with resolutions that include ‘justice must never give way to speed’.

The resolutions also call on Chief Justice Zaki Azmi (left) to ensure that the EGM resolutions are taken into account in the judiciary’s Key Performance Index (KPI) system.

There have been concerns that over-emphasis on the KPI could lead to cases being rushed just to meet the standard and to clear the backlog of cases.

However, Nazri who is also law minister, said speeding up cases has its “merit and demerit”.

“The merit is as the maxim says, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’, so we can’t delay it. But in efforts to ensure the cases are heard, sometimes the magistrates or judges (go overboard).

“So they must use their judgment and ability to make decisions based on right facts. If a lawyer is sick and has to go to hospital, then they can’t say the case must go on. So they need to use their judgment.”

‘Mistakes could arise’

While he feels that Azmi’s efforts to implement the KPI are “good”, Nazri acknowledged that there could be mistakes in implementing the system.

“Now, they (the Bar Council) have coined a term, ‘justice hurried is justice buried,” he said.

Last week, Bar Council secretary George Varughese (left) said the EGM is required because lawyers are worried that there will be miscarriage of justice if judges are forced to expedite the trial of cases just to fulfil the KPI.

Although the council lauded the introduction of the KPI to reduce the backlog, he said lawyers generally feel that its introduction has limited the role of judges to exercising their powers to grant postponements if there are valid and strong reasons.

“This is not fair to lawyers and their clients,” said Varughese.