He said there would not be many cases to be disposed of if the court were to sit in towns like George Town, Johor Baru and Kuantan.

It would also be administratively cumbersome as bundles of files needed to be carried along while court registry staff were required to accompany judges to assist them in their tasks, he added.

“Of course, we love to travel but it is not productive and there is a cost factor,” he said after the close of the 51st Judges’ Conference at a hotel here.

However, the Federal Court will sit four times a year, and the Court of Appeal six times a year, in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu as there were enough cases on appeal there, he said.

Arifin, who will retire at the end of the month, said there would only be 10 cases in Penang if the bench were to sit in George Town.

“If we were to sit in Kuantan, we have to call appeal cases from neighbouring Kelantan and Terengganu,” he said.

He added that the apex court bench constituted for the week could complete its task in a matter of three days.

Arifin was responding to a question from the legal fraternity outside the Klang Valley lamenting that the tradition abandoned about 20 years ago had deprived judges of meeting young lawyers.

It was a usual practice for the State Bar Committee in the state where the Federal Court sat during the circuit to hold a dinner reception for judges to touch base with senior lawyers and meet those who had just entered the legal profession.

Arifin added that it was also not practical for the Federal Court to sit in Shah Alam, being the capital of Selangor, although the volume of cases to be disposed of there was high, as lawyers from the state could come to Putrajaya.

“Even lawyers from Perak and Johor could come to Putrajaya as travelling time by road is short due to the existence of excellent road links,” he added.