The disposal of backlogged cases before the Court of Appeal has been expedited from 10,760 pending cases in 2010 to 2,850 cases as at October 1 this year.

Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif (pic) said the move to reduce the backlogged cases to more manageable numbers was due to judiciary transformation initiatives, which were introduced in 2007.

“The judicial transformation continues to the present Chief of Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, who took over from Tun Zaki Tun Azmi,” he said when delivering the keynote address at the two-day Malaysian Legal and Corporate Conference (MLCC) 2015 in Kuala Lumpur today.

The transformation initiatives among others include a total and comprehensive reorganisation of all file rooms and registries across the judicial system; establishment of a single registry case tracking system and establishment of timelines and performance measurements for disposal of cases.

It also entails the establishment of dedicated specialised commercial courts, Islamic banking courts, intellectual property courts and admiralty courts; the introduction of seamless on-line “e-Court” administration which computerises key processes and expedited appeals through special panels.

Raus said that under the transformation initiatives, the commercial cases for the new commercial court and those cases for the specialised court were given priority.

He said a pervasive programme of reform was undertaken by the judiciary working collaboratively with Pemudah, a special task force to facilitate clearing the backlogged commercial cases.

He said in 2009, there were 6,490 old commercial cases, most of which were pending for more than five years in the Commercial Court of Kuala Lumpur.

“According to them (Pemudah) the delay of the commercial cases is not good for business and the business community,” he said.

Hence, as a result of collaboration between the judiciary and Permudah, the New Commercial Court (NCC) was established in the Kuala Lumpur High Court in September 2009 to handle new commercial cases after Sept1, 2009.

He said the NCC had set a timeline to clear cases within nine months from the date of filing.

The conference is organised by the Bar Council and Malaysian Current Law Journal. It aims to highlight the latest development in law and corporate practices.

Among the prominent speakers are Judge of the Federal Court Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Embong and Air Asia X chairperson Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.