Gopal Sri Ram and Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus said what was being done now amounted to an interference in the independence of the judges in the High Court as they were supposed to be left to manage their own court.
They said the immediate superior of the High Court judges, the Chief Judge of Malaya or the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak should not interfere with the assignment of cases, such as transferring files from one judge to another.
Gopal Sri Ram said the current practice of having managing judges from the Federal Court or Court of Appeal to oversee High Court judges was against Section 20 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 (CoJA).
He said the provision stated that the distribution of business among the judges of the High Court shall be made in accordance with direction given by the chief judge of Malaya or of Sabah and Sarawak.
“The appointment of managing judges also eats into the power of the chief judge and renders him ineffective,” said the former Federal Court judge, adding that the present system was open to abuse.
Sri Ram said each High Court judge was ‘a lion in his own den’ and it was also best left to the chief judge to perform the functions vested in him by CoJA, for which he was paid.
He said this in response to reports last week that a new judge would hear the defamation suit by Bersih 2.0 Chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah against Red Shirts leader Jamal Yunos.
Lawyer Melissa Sasidaran, who is appearing for Maria, said they received a letter from the High Court registry saying that Justice Zaki Abdul Wahab had been assigned to hear the suit, taking over from Justice S Nantha Balan.
Melissa said the decision to change the judge came from Federal Court judge Justice Azahar Mohamed who is the managing judge of the high courts in Kuala Lumpur.
No reason was given for the change.
The high courts in Kuala Lumpur come under the Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin.
Sri Ram said the appointment of managing judges was akin to closely observing the judicial officers in the High Court, but that there were other steps to remove the underperforming ones from the system.
He said that the latest incident gave the impression of judges choosing to hear a case.
Sri Ram said the current practice was started during the tenure of the then chief justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah (2000-2003) but was abandoned only to be revived by another chief justice Zaki Azmi (2008-2011) to dispose of cases speedily.
Retired Court of Appeal judge Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus said the provision in the Courts of Judicature only allowed the chief judge to have limited control of judges in his jurisdiction.
“There is no place for Federal Court or Court of Appeal judges to manage High Court judges or cases,” said Hishamudin.
He said this did not happen when he served under four chief judges before his elevation to the Court of Appeal in 2009.
He said Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria should put a stop to this practice and the law should be upheld.