There has been almost 100 percent disposal of court cases since or before 2009, which are registered at the High Court, Sessions Court and magistrate’s court, says Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria.

Arifin ( left ) said this is part of the transformation programme in the judiciary to clear the backlog of cases and show transparency in the access of justice.

He said the transformation happened in 2009, and was carried out by his predecessor Zaki Azmi.

The top judicial officer said at the High Court for civil cases there are 44,873 cases registered in 2009 or prior to that, and since then only 335 remais up to April 2014.

“This represented a 99.2 percent disposal,” he said.

Similarly for criminal cases at the High Court, there are 3,514 cases registered in 2009 or before that, and this has declined to only two cases at present.

“This represented a 99.9 percent disposal rate,” he said.

Similarly at the Sessions Court, 61,659 civil cases were registered in 2009 or prior to that, of which only six remain, and for criminal cases there were 9,377 of which 103 remain.

100 percent disposal at magistrate’s court

He added that the magistrate’s court for civil and criminal cases recorded a 100 percent disposal rate, where 71,681 civil cases registered in 2009 or before that are all resolved and in criminal cases, all 53,087 are being disposed.

Being disposed means that the court which registered the case had heard the matter through trial and a decision had been delivered. It does not include appeals to the superior courts.

Arifin said now, not much postponement of cases is granted, as we have decided in criminal matters the case must proceed.

“We will not entertain interlocutory appeals (ie appeals made before trial ends). There is a judgment on this as in the Anwar Ibrahim case which is my judgment. The case will continue on until a judgment is delivered, and we will hear and consider the various appeals later,” he said.

Hence, he said there will be no more cases like Eric Chia where interlocutory appeals were granted.

“The idea is for the court to give a decision on a conviction or acquittal quickly as there should not be a delay in dispensing justice. It is also torture for the person facing the charge,” he said.

However, the top judge admitted there are rare cases where final decisions have yet to be made, and these cases are constantly being monitored.