Judges urged to pull at the same rope to reduce backlog

Justice Minister Austin Gatt yesterday praised the vast majority of judges and magistrates who, he said, were "rising to the challenge" and working to reduce the backlog of cases before the courts.

He also appealed to the Commission for the Administration of Justice and the judiciary to analyse the monthly figures of cases decided by every judge and magistrate to see who was working and giving results and who was not working and not giving results, and to take action against the latter.

With the vast majority of the judiciary rising to the challenge, individuals should not be allowed to put spokes into the wheel and not pull the same rope, he said.

The minister gave an overview of the situation in the law courts when he opened the debate on the Courts and Tribunals Procedures Bill.

Dr Gatt said this bill was part of a government strategy to tackle the problem of court delays and the backlog of cases. Malta was far from being the only country which had a backlog of court cases. The nature of cases before the courts had changed over the years and today's cases were often more complex and difficult than in the past. It was therefore difficult to make comparisons with the past.

The problem of the backlog of cases had been growing for 20 years and there were no quick fixes. In seeking to improve the administration of justice, the government's strategy had four main targets - reducing the backlog of cases, strengthening the conditions within which the members of the judiciary worked, building a new management structure in the courts and restructuring court spaces.

Starting from the first, Dr Gatt said he was pleased to report that the backlog of cases pending before the courts, taken globally, has fallen by 29 per cent in the criminal sector and 16 per cent in the civil courts and tribunals since December 1998.

A backlog of 10,500 cases in the criminal sector in December 1998 had been reduced to 7,500 at the end of last month while civil cases had dropped from 16,000 to 13,400 pending cases.

These figures had been achieved when the number of new cases introduced before the courts had not shown significant change, even after court registry fees were reviewed. .

He had no doubt, Dr Gatt said, that one reason why cases were being decided more quickly was because the conditions within which the members of the judiciary worked were being improved. Other factors, such as the changes made in the competence of the various courts and tribunals had also had a major impact.

Today more than half of cases fell within the competence of the small claims tribunal and were decided within three months.

Indeed, of 2,700 new cases, 2,000 had been decided within nine months.

While the courts were clearly on the right road to reducing their backlog, much more remained to be done, particularly with regard to the backlog before the civil appeals court, the land arbitration board and the Gozo civil courts.

Dr Gatt said his ministry was now, for the first time, publishing lists of the number of cases decided by each judge and magistrate so that progress could be regularly monitored. In this context he was appealing to the Commission for the Administration of Justice and the judiciary to see who was working and giving results and who was not, and to summon the latter and take action. Individuals should not be allowed to hinder progress and not pull at the same rope.

Dr Gatt recalled that the government had improved the financial package of the members of the judiciary and had tackled long standing problems such as that on the provision of cars. A new system had been introduced where every judge and magistrate had a new leased, all-expenses-paid car, a driver and a petrol allowance of Lm750. The new system had led to a saving of Lm80,000 per year from the previous system of car rentals which had resulted in cases of cars being rented at 3 a.m. and cases where more than one car was rented to the same person.

A problem on the billing of mobile phones used by the judiciary had also been settled and the members of the judiciary now had a limit of Lm350 per year. This capping had to be introduced because he could no longer face a situation where there had even been bills of Lm400 per month. Unfortunately those who abused caused problems for everyone.

Indeed, controls may even have to be introduced regarding fixed line telephone costs because having a bill of Lm1,600 for a year from one member of the judiciary was unacceptable.

Indeed, his appeal to the members of the judiciary was to exercise auto control and self discipline since the actions of just one or two were reflected on all.

Dr Gatt said the ministry was working for all judges and magistrates to have a small team of persons who worked with them as they directed. However, here too, one could not have abuse, such as when a member of one such team who was supposed to be on sick leave was sent transcription work to do at home with the expectation that he would be paid extra. Indeed, he could not see how the government could continue to pay some Lm90,000 for transcription when this was supposed to be everyday work.

The members of the judiciary needed to think collectively and to realise that the abuse of a few individuals dented their reputation and respect. Indeed, his objective was for the people to hold the judiciary in greater respect.

Dr Gatt said much remained to be done regarding the managerial system of the law courts, but he could say that much had also been achieved. One of the purposes of this bill would be to separate the functions of the director-general of the law courts and the registrar. Indeed, there would be registrars for the criminal, civil and Gozo courts.

That much remained to be done was reflected in the way it still took six months just to engage a court messenger.

Among the milestones achieved over the past months was that all court judgments and legislation were on-line. The academy for the training of court staff had also been set up and this could potentially give significant results in the future.

Turning to the extension of court spaces, the minister said the transfer of the registry had been a "martyrdom" but he could now say that the actual transfer of files would be made during the summer and the new registry would open in September.

The government was lucky to have acquired the home of Judge Montanaro Gauci in Old Bakery Street and other buildings which would enable an extension of the law courts building so that judges could at last have decent offices. Indeed the government had approved a Lm2 million plan to restructure the whole law courts building over a period of five years starting with the setting up of the area for the family court, which should be functioning by the end of March. Indeed this bill included the provisions for this court to be formed.

The plan would also see a small increase of court halls and provide rooms where court experts could meet.

Dr Gatt said there was no doubt that the works would cause inconvenience to those who worked in the law courts building and his appeal was for patience because eventually everybody would benefit. He would rather not have complaints such as recent cases where a magistrate summoned tile layers who were working in the area of the new registry, warning them he would have them arrested if they did not stop what they were doing because of noise.

Dr Gatt said this bill was highly technical, but he could say it enjoyed the backing of all those involved in the law courts including the judiciary, the Chamber of Advocates and the Chamber of Legal Procurators. This backing was essential if such changes were to be implemented.

Apart from the aspects of internal administration of the courts, the bill proposed a radical reform in that one would no longer have a civil court divided into the first and second halls but a civil court divided into divisions for civil, commercial, voluntary jurisdiction, the family court and the duty judge. This new set-up was the result of the need felt for greater specialisation in view of the complexity of the laws.

The amendments would have an impact on the way cases were heard, including how the majority of cases had to have an established time and most civil cases had to have a pre-trial stage before the master. The bill defined the duties of the master and the judges nominated after the master, and it also went into the distribution of work among the judges and magistrates.

The bill would make evidence by video conference admissible and it would change the notifications system and the execution of warrants, so as to deter abuse.

Concluding, Dr Gatt said he wanted to appeal to the members of the legal profession to make greater use of the services of the Arbitration Centre. The centre had had only a few cases so far, but they had been very successfully handled A case which had a value of Lm500,000 was resolved in six months.

Remarks by opposition justice spokesman Anglu Farrugia will be reported tomorrow.