PETALING JAYA: A retired judge has urged the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to appoint judges to the High Court on a temporary basis to ensure that they are fully independent.
Gopal Sri Ram said the current practice of appointing judicial commissioners (JCs) from among lawyers and those in the judicial and legal service and placing them on probation does not augur well for the judiciary.
“Judges are not law clerks to be put on probation before being elevated. They must enjoy security of tenure to decide cases without fear or favour,” he told FMT.
He was responding to news that seven JCs would be elevated as High Court judges today after being on probation for more than three and a half years.
Sri Ram, who was the first judge to be promoted directly to the Court of Appeal in 1994, said the trial period was too long.
He said many had forgotten that JCs were originally appointed to dispose of a huge number of cases and would return to practice after completing their task.
He said an amendment to the constitution in 1976 vested power in the then-lord president to appoint JCs to clear the backlog.
Among those appointed to carry out the task then were Raja Aziz Addruse, Chan Hua Eng, S Jeyadeva, Abdullah A Rahman and RTS Khoo.
Sri Ram said the system was brought to a halt but that the appointment of JCs on a trial basis began in the early 1990s with the goal of elevating them as High Court judges.
He referred to the case of High Court judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera who was promoted to the High Court only in early 2015, after being on probation for nearly five years.
“He was fiercely independent and paid the price because he ruled against the then-attorney-general in a civil suit,” he said.
Sri Ram said the opposite could also happen where JCs decide on cases for the establishment in the hope of getting confirmed as soon as possible.
Former Malaysian Bar president Ragunath Kesavan said the maximum probation period for JCs should be two years as declared by former chief justice Richard Malanjum before he retired in April.
“However, the present chief justice, Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who is also the JAC chairman, must inform the public whether the trial period remains or is shortened,” he said.
He also said JAC must be more transparent in revealing the criteria for appointments.
“One JC never went to court as that person was merely a corporate research officer in a legal firm,” he said.
He also called for a balance of JCs appointed from among lawyers and those coming from the service.
“At the moment, the numbers from the service are overwhelming and could affect the quality of justice,” he said. - FMT
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