The Bar Council welcomes the proposed new procedural rules barring lawyers from raising pure technical objections unless substantial injustice has been caused..

Its chairperson Mah Weng Kwai said the new provisions in the Rules of the High Court 1980 is timely as it will not only prevent injustice but also save a lot of time and energy for both judges and lawyers.

"Now we can go straight to the substance of the case and not get distracted with trivial side issues. Cases will be decided purely on merit and this is good for the development of the law," he told malaysiakini today.

He said a lot of time had been spent on technical arguments, which usually affects the speedy disposal of cases.

"If the proposal is enforced, things will definitely be speeding up soon," said Mah who is one of the members of the Rules Committee chaired by Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.

Mah also lauded the new establishment of the Rules Committee which deals with leave applications by judges in chambers without the presence of lawyers.

"It is one way of quick disposals of leave applications which are usually "run-of-the mill" applications .Without the committee, leave applications would have to be heard in an open court. The disposal of the applications takes a lot of time. Now applications will be considered without much difficulty and time," he said.

Give it a try

Asked if the committee which is comprised of three Court of Appeal judges would succeed, Mah replied: "We must give it a try. I don't see any reason why it will not work. It's a good step for both the members of the Bench and the Bar."

He said the committee will not affect anyone's interest as full arguments will be heard in open court if the committee refuses the leave application.

Meanwhile, lawyer and politician Karpal Singh commended the judiciary for making the positive changes but added that the act is long overdue.

He said it is most unfortunate that it is only now that the introduction of something that is the basis of the word justice is taking place.

"Dismissal of cases and appeals, even by the Federal Court, on technical grounds in the past led to manifest injustice," he said

In line with the changes, he urged Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to seriously look into the legislation to review all past cases which had cogent merits but were dismissed on pure technical grounds.

He said that the past injustice should not be left uncorrected as many of those cases and appeals involved property and monetary disputes

New Straits Times today reported that Mohamed Dzaiddin said the new provisions were added to the High Court Rules 1980 and Court of Appeal Rules 1994 because "the judiciary felt that justice should be the paramount consideration in any trial".

He said the amendment would prevent injustice by literal application of the rules and that the Court of Appeal had received too many appeals revolving entirely on technicalities, such as short delays in filing affidavits or pleadings.