Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici told Parliament yesterday that he remained open to conviction on whether a full-time judge should be appointed to Gozo.
But it was undeniable that systems introduced there in the past 10 years had been a huge success, especially in the 53 per cent reduction of backlog of pending cases in all spheres.
Most of the progress was the merit of having two full-time magistrates deciding on a wide gamut of lower, superior and criminal cases, as well as the uptake by lawyers of new legal mechanisms introduced to speed up the delivery of justice.
The electronic scanning of documents had made it possible to study and decide more rapidly on cases even at home on a computer. The system would start in 2012 with two judges in Malta, but consideration would be given to also giving the same access to lawyers.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he was very concerned about the fact that, unlike in Malta, there were still about 55 to 60 per cent of pending cases in Gozo that were older than three years. The older cases should take precedence for decision, and if a full-time judge in Gozo could help in this regard he would agree.
The success achieved by having two magistrates in Gozo with wide competences made one wonder if the difference of status between magistrate and judge should be reduced and have only adjudicators, with the Chief Justice appointing work according to the nature of a case.
A Bill was already in hand to allow lawsuits, including criminal cases, to be presented in Malta or Gozo without the need of island-hopping. Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he had nothing against allowing an appeal to be heard before one judge instead of three if the parties so agreed. This bore debate so that no suspicions would be created.
One system that would help “immensely” the reduction of backlog would be better case management, with pre-coordination between judiciary and lawyers. Another important aspect, on which efforts must be concentrated, was to do away with the mentality that cases could keep being deferred.
Also needing to be addressed was the backlog of long-standing inquiries and compilations of evidence. Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he had considered at length, but remained unconvinced, on whether video-conferencing of evidence should be allowed between Malta and Gozo.
He agreed with Dr Caruana that security measures in the Gozo court building bore no comparison with those in Malta.
Minister for Gozo Giovanna Debono agreed that the committee for the codification of laws prepare the necessary changes to the code of civil procedures and other amendments and proposed that judicial files needed in court cases held in Malta be filed in Gozo and vice-versa. The same applied for calling of jurors. Minister Debono said two identified sites to relocate the law courts had been rejected because of objections by residents. She said that a pilot project started in Gozo four years ago led to the scanning of judicial acts facilitating work. This system had not yet been adopted in Malta.
Fredrick Azzopardi (PN) said that the backlog of cases in the Gozo court had decreased substantially during the last six years. Scanning of judicial acts and digital video recording had started in Gozo but not in Malta.