Gatt feels functions of justice commission should be reviewed

Justice Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday in a brief reference to the controversy over the appointment of Dr André Camilleri to the bench that he felt that the functions of the Commission for the Administration of Justice should be reviewed.

Speaking during the budget debate on the Ministry of Justice, Dr Gatt said that unfortunately the commission, like the opposition in the debate, had equated justice solely with the law courts, forgetting the other related sectors.

In his view, in the Camilleri case there were many unresolved conflicts of interest and in the future the House needed to discuss the functions of the commission, which, he felt, needed to be reviewed.

The debate was opened by Opposition justice spokesman Anglu Farrugia, who complained of poor administration at the law courts.

He said it was shameful that despite electoral promises, the Family Court had still not been set up. Just as shameful was the increase in court tariffs which had reduced the common man's access to justice. Revenue from court fees in 2001 had been Lm1.4 million, twice the projected amount.

Dr Farrugia said that in the Second Hall, Mr Justice Franco Depasquale, who would soon retire, was burdened by a huge amount of work and as a result delays were growing. This caused particular hardship since this court heard human cases such as adoptions and marriage separation cases.

In the First Hall, cases that had been due to be heard by Mr Justice Frank Camilleri before his retirement three years ago had since been transferred to two other judges and were now about to be transferred to another judge. Several hundred cases, therefore, had ended up before four judges and nothing had been done about them.

To compound matters, one of the new judges, Noel Cuschieri, could not work last Thursday because he had no hall.

Dr Farrugia said the justice minister had a duty to see why magistrates were not hearing drug cases which had been due to be heard before Magistrate Cuschieri before his elevation to the superior courts.

He said the master system was currently in a disastrous state with new cases not being appointed.

All in all, the administration of the law courts, particularly since the summer, had become unbearable. With so many judges changing places, lawyers even had a problem finding out where their cases had ended up.

The number of pending criminal appeals and trials by jury was growing. Mr Justice Galea Debono was trying to perform miracles to keep up, but could he continue to work on his own?

Dr Farrugia said that following the changes in the competence of the courts, the workload before the first hall and the magistrates' court had dropped, but there was a huge caseload before the Small Claims Tribunals. But the tribunals did not have the necessary infrastructure to handle it.

Dr Farrugia said the appointment of Dr André Camilleri to the bench was a government farce.

Referring to local tribunals, he said it was not fair that people who could not appear before the tribunals were fined between Lm25 and Lm50 in contempt, over a Lm10 contravention.

Replying, Dr Gatt said the opposition associated justice only with the law courts and had not said a single word on other very important sectors such as the Office of the Attorney General.

Dr Gatt said he could not deny that there were problems in the administration of the law courts, but headway was being made for their resolution.

The bottom line was that now, between 65 and 70 per cent of cases were being decided within a year.

In December 1998 there were a total of 11,270 cases pending before the superior civil courts. This month there were 9,583, a decline of 15 per cent.

Cases before the inferior courts, boards and tribunals had dropped 27 per cent from 4,725 to 3,472.

In the criminal courts (superior and inferior), the number of pending cases had dropped from 10,472 to 7,554, a decline of 28 per cent.

One of the existing problems involved appeals and stemmed from the appointment of a new chief justice within a short span of time.

Potential problems in the Small Claims Tribunal were also being addressed. A new adjudicator had been appointed and measures had been announced in the budget regarding bad debts, which formed a substantial part of pending cases.

In the past four years the number of workers in the law courts had increased by more than 100. The administration was working better, and the people were feeling the difference.

The incident involving Mr Justice Cuschieri had happened because he had not known that halls had to be booked beforehand. But that case did not mean everything was wrong.

Dr Farrugia had spoken about the problems facing Mr Justice Depasquale in the second hall, the problems of the first hall, the criminal court, where there was only one judge, and the problems of the master system. But had he discussed them with the Chief Justice? It was, after all, the duty of the Chief Justice to assign the judges. Dr Farrugia should know that matters had changed since the Mintoff government and the government no longer assigned judges.

Dr Gatt said a lot of work had been done for the setting up of the Family Court. Legislation had been completed and the building which would house the new court would be as beautiful as the new registry, about which none of the opposition MPs had said anything.

Neither had the Labour MPs said anything about the training being given to the court workers, the reform of the AG's office, the new computer system and the Lm2 million being allocated for the restructuring of the law courts building over the next four years.

Referring to the allegations of discrimination in promotions, Dr Gatt said that among those on the selection board who had also approved the new assistant registrars was the former secretary of former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

Concluding, Dr Gatt said reform would be ongoing in the coming five years. In line were recently approved legislation, and procedures would be changed to usher in a master system as the judges had proposed. The structure of the courts would be changed to include divisions and specialisations, and there would be a new system on the execution of warrants and the issuing of notifications and there would be changes in the local tribunals and the Small Claims Tribunals.

Change would be gradual, but everyone, including the judges and the lawyers, had to understand that such change was necessary.