KUALA LUMPUR: The New Commercial Courts (NCC) will be world class according to the time lines they have set, said Pemudah co-chairman Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon.
Among others, under the NCC, the processing of documents will be done on the same day of filing and hearing dates before judges are fixed within two months from filing.
“We are confident that with all the improvements that the judiciary is doing, Malaysia’s ranking in the World Bank for doing business (25 in 2008 and 20 in 2009) and enforcing contracts (81 in 2007 out of 183 countries and 60 in 2008) will improve,” Yong said when interviewed after the launch here on Tuesday.
In an article on March 15, he had told Sunday Star that Pemudah had proposed the setting up of specialised commercial courts to improve the delivery system of the existing commercial division and that the then prime minister had pledged assistance and resources.
Asked whether it had been easy to get the money to finance the RM69.84mil e-court system, Yong said the Chief Secretary to the Government, Finance Ministry secretary-general and Public Service Department head had been very supportive with regard to financing and staffing, like the creation of new posts for Judicial Commissioners.
Asked whether the Government had only moved now on a long-standing problem because it was more concerned about its World Bank ranking than justice for the people, he replied:
“They are all inter-related. Funda-mental to any democratic system, the efficient running of the judiciary means both businesses and individuals can go to the courts to resolve their disputes.”
Bar Council chairman Ragunath Kesavan said the Bar was happy there was finally some movement in the matter of computerisation, adding there were plenty of meetings and consultations with it.
Asked whether the council had raised with the judiciary concerns of some lawyers that justice might be lost if applications are thrown out just to meet some targets, he said:
“Yes, we have. But previously we had a system which did not work. We had 10 High Court judges but there was no uniformity.
“There will be teething problems but I think generally lawyers are happy,” he said.
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