©New Straits Times
(Used by permission)
by V. Anbalagan
KUALA LUMPUR: The Court of Appeal registry’s records revealed that a former
High Court judge did not write grounds of judgment in 33 criminal and civil
cases.
The backlog included three criminal cases in Seremban which
carried the death penalty.
The judge presided over the cases while serving at the High Court there five
years ago.
The rest are civil cases in which he made rulings while there and in Kuala
Lumpur between 1999 and 2002.
It is understood that the litigants in all 33 cases had filed notices of appeal
against decisions by the judge who is now sitting in the Federal Court.
Checks with lawyers representing the accused in the three criminal cases
revealed that they were still awaiting written grounds to file the memorandum of
appeal to the Court of Appeal.
In one case, the Attorney–General’s Chambers is also awaiting the written
judgment as it intends to cross appeal.
The New Straits Times had on July 23 revealed that the judge had not
provided written grounds of judgment in at least 30 criminal and civil cases.
CJ disputed allegations that he had erred
On Aug 16, it was reported that two men were languishing on Death Row
in Kajang prison because the judge who convicted them at the High Court in
Seremban had not provided grounds of judgment.
Another person was also ordered by the same judge to be held at the Sungai Buloh
prison at the pleasure of the Yang di–Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan on grounds
of insanity.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice of the Federal Court Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul
Halim disputed allegations that he had erred in promoting judicial officers who
had not written judgments. He had also asked for proof that he had elevated
undeserving judges.
Meanwhile, lawyer Karpal Singh questioned the basis on which Ahmad Fairuz had
promoted former High Court judge Tengku Baharuddin Shah Tengku Mahmud to the
Court of Appeal.
"A delay of nine years and three months with the grounds of judgment not
supplied is more cause for Ahmad Fairuz to spring into action" he said.
On Monday, former fish and vegetable vendor Baha Jambol who is on Death Row for
dadah trafficking, filed an action in the Court of Appeal to free him or set
aside the conviction of the High Court. Tengku Baharuddin had sentenced Baha to
death on April 26, 1998.
Karpal also urged acting Court of Appeal president Datuk Alauddin Mohd Sheriff
to review all pending appeals where there had been a delay in delivering grounds
of judgment. This will help expedite submissions of the written judgments.
Lawyer Baljit Singh Siddhu said there should be a law to compel judicial
officers, including those from subordinate courts, to provide written grounds of
judgment within a specific period of time.
"Now, we only have the chief justice’s circular which is not legally binding on
judicial officers," he said.