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Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Azmi is mulling the possibility of departing from the current practice of determining the hierarchy of judicial officers, which is based on the number of years and days served in the judiciary.

Under a new proposal, a judge now "senior" on the judges list could be replaced by his junior in terms of length of service.

This is one of the resolutions outlined at the conclusion of a one-day meeting on ways to enhance the delivery system at the High Courts in the peninsula.

At the tail end of the meeting, the judges had a dialogue with representatives from the Bar Council.
All judges and judicial commissioners from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were present while those outside Klang Valley were represented by senior judges. Zaki, Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Arifin Zakaria and selected Federal and Court of Appeal judges were also present.

A statement by Palace of Justice public relations officer Yasmin Abdul Razak said two Court of Appeal judges would be appointed to manage files at the Kuala Lumpur High Court under a "tracking" system.

Datuk James Foong would be the managing judge for the civil division while Datuk Md Raus Sharif would be in charge of the commercial, appellate and special powers divisions.

The New Sunday Times understands that the judges would be based in Kuala Lumpur.

The two judges will then send the files to the respective High Court judges to hear the matter.

It is hoped this system will speedily dispose of cases in Kuala Lumpur, reputedly the busiest court in the country.

Zaki is also expected to appoint managing judges in Penang, Johor Baru, Shah Alam and Ipoh.

The statement also said all senior assistant registrars would be gazetted as ex-officio magistrates while deputy registrars as ex-officio Sessions Court judges.

This is to allow them to function as judicial officers should the resident magistrates or Sessions Court judges go on leave.

The statement added that judges should be strict in granting postponements and they were advised to provide grounds of judgment in point form on matters relating to interlocutory matters.

Bar Council chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said both sides were frank in the discussions for better administration of justice.

"We raised issues and problems that affected our members," she said, adding that circulars would be sent to all lawyers on what judges expected from them.