Committee backs call for a Supreme Court

A call for the setting up of a Supreme Court in Malta, an issue raised during the President’s Forum over the weekend, was repeated yesterday at a meeting of the House Committee on the Recodification and Consolidation of Laws.

Committee chairman Franco Debono said such a third tier of review would ensure consistency in decision making and uniformity in court sentencing.

Labour MP José Herrera said he had proposed cessation meetings with five judges, three representing the Court of Appeal and two from other sections of the same court.

The Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Malta, Kevin Aquilina, said members had to be on a permanent basis and not surrogated.

Dr Debono said that it was high time that the first draft of the Administrative Code be launched for public consultation.

The Committee also raised the issue of court sentences declaring sections of the legal code as no longer applicable.

Dr Herrera said that he was concerned that a certain judge was assigned to hear constitutional cases when he was a member of the Constitutional Court. Prof. Aquilina proposed the setting up of an Administrative Court that would replace the Administrative Review Tribunal.

Prof. Aquilina said that under the Administrative Code, the Chief Justice would have to consult the Commission for the Administration of Justice in assigning judicial administrative posts.