Parliamentary committee calls for court system reform

Today's sitting of the parliamentary select committee on the re-codification and consolidation of laws was dominated by the controversial comments by justice minister Chris Said on fining people who did not appear in court.

Opposition MP Jose' Herrera described the justice minister's comments as "simplistic, and puerile."

Herrera argued that the real problem lies in the fact that judges, magistrates and lawyers were inundated with a huge work-load and called for a wide-ranging reform to eliminate the excessive bureaucracy in the justice system.

On Saturday, the justice minister said judges and magistrates should fine lawyers or police officers who fail to show up in court for no valid reason and who try and stall or delay proceedings,

The committee's chairman, Nationalist MP Franco Debono who has publicly declared that he has an amicable relationship with Chris Said explained that while the minister's comments were well intentioned, lawyers and prosecutors were not the culprits but the victims of the system.

Debono who has been criticising and proposing reforms in the justice system since his election to Parliament in 2008 explained that the problem of delays boiled down  to logistics and expressed his agreement to a need for an overhaul in the procedural system.

Michael Schriha, a criminal lawyer, who was present for the committee meeting said "the last thing we should do is to intimidate lawyers and prosecutors. A strong an independent lawyer means a strong citizen."

He also agreed that the judicial system had to be updated and proposed the setting up of more specialised courts and magistrates to make things  easier and more uniform. 

The registrar of the criminal court, Joseph Sacco explained the logistical problems the court faces on a daily basis. He argued that there is nothing wrong with augmenting the number of magistrates but explained that four magistrates already did not have assigned court rooms.

Sacco, who has been working in court for 36 years boldly claimed "everything is going downwards in court."

Another committee member, Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech pointed out that  the major problem was time management and explained that the justice minister's comments did not rule out reforms in the judiciary system. 

Zammit Dimech said the committee's role was to identify such problems and propose solutions.  

The committee will meet again tomorrow to discuss commercial law reform and will also be tackling the press laws on Wednesday.