Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said clients only paid fees when counsel attended court to conduct trials and appeals.
“The livelihood of lawyers and their staff is very much dependent on courts conducting proceedings, especially trials,” said Rafique, who is the co-chair of the Bar Council’s criminal law practice committee.
He said the reopening of criminal courts would also help overcome the backlog of cases since last year and dispose of cases speedily.
“It is unfair on remand prisoners, especially those facing capital punishments, to languish in prisons waiting for their trials to begin,” he added.
Rafique was responding to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat’s circular that criminal matters will resume, even if the movement control order (MCO) or conditional MCO are still in force.
However, Tengku Maimun said priority should be given to pre-2020 cases where trials had started as well as public interest cases.
The circular also outlined the do’s and don’ts by judges and court staff.
However, Tengku Maimun said the judges could use their discretion to decide which cases could be conducted in open court.
Lawyer A Srimurugan suggested proceedings that involved accused persons on bail be given priority over those involving the accused who are in prisons.
“Some of the jails are under lockdown as inmates, prison staff and their families have been infected with Covid-19,” he said, adding that it could spread to the courts if precautionary measures were not taken.
Srimurugan cited an incident at the High Court in Seremban early this month when 16 accused persons under remand for security offences tested positive.
“Lawyers, deputy public prosecutors and court staff had to undergo self-quarantine for about 10 days. Such incidents will affect work productivity,” he said.
He added that since Parliament had amended the laws, the court could hear appeals in the presence of lawyers but in the absence of remand prisoners to contain the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, lawyer M Visvanathan expressed hope that inquest proceedings before the coroner’s court would proceed as these were also priority cases.
He said the Federal Court last month held that relatives of victims who died in custody must file their suits against the government within 36 months of the incident.
Visvanathan said it was only the coroner’s court that could dispense justice by declaring whether any person was criminally concerned in the cause of death.
He said family members could file suits to obtain damages, among others, for loss of dependency and estate claims, based on the evidence gathered at the coroner’s court.