Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri said today he agreed with calls by the Chamber of Advocates for more transparency in the choice of new judges and magistrates.
Although the actual nomination had to remain an administrative decision, entrusted to the Justice Minister, he saw no harm in starting the process earlier for the matter to be discussed by the Commission for the Administration of Justice prior to making the appointment public.
Addressing the opening of the Forensic Year, Chief Justice Camilleri said:
"I agree that the method with which members of the judiciary are chosen is not transparent enough. However, I do not think it is a bad thing that they are chosen by the executive but believe that we should move towards more transparency," he said.
He, however, expressed hope that the mechanism with which such nominations were discussed by the Commission for the Administration of Justice would not lengthen the entire process. He said the process should start two years before a member of the judiciary was due to retire. He also criticised the time it was taking for retired judges and magistrates to be replaced, saying this was creating "legal and logistical problems".
His comments on the appointment of members of the judiciary came right after Chamber of Advocates president George Hyzler made an appeal for the executive to abstain from involving itself in this.
"The executive must relinquish its unfettered right to appoint members of the judiciary. Advanced democracies have systems with various checks and balances and without the complete withdrawal of the executive, but we should aim at the separation of its legislative and justice powers,” Dr Hyzler said.
On the retirement of judges and magistrate, Dr Hyzler suggested that this is postponed by two years to allow them address the backlog of cases.
“It is shameful that these retired members, whose contribution is still valid, no longer serve the public. It could also help address the financial situation of retiring members of the judiciary," he said.
Dr Hyzler also lamented about the lack of space for judicial assistants to hold their sittings, saying he felt "embarrassed" asking for more space and proper facilities such as partitions for some privacy.
In his speech, Chief Justice Camilleri made a direct plea for more judges to address the ever-increasing number of cases. He said it was "a pity" that judges and magistrates had to retire once they reached retirement age, whereby their experience was lost to the detriment of the judicial system.
He said he would like to have one more judge presiding over the Family Court, and that he would like to see the present complement of 22 judges, including one serving abroad, increased to 25.
"I am pleased to see that pending cases before civil and criminal courts are on the decrease due to the faster determination of cases. The problem remains that of the backlog of cases. The present structure is managing to conclude as many cases as new ones files but not managing the backlog. The introduction of court attorney will help facilitate matters," he said.
Chief Justice Camilleri also spoke about the need to address appeals cases, specifically the time it took for appeals to be heard and decided.