To all Members of the Malaysian Bar
Guidelines for Scheduling of Court of Appeal Matters
Pursuant to a meeting between the President of the Court of Appeal and Bar Council on 22 Feb 2012, the following guidelines have been agreed upon for the fixing of hearing dates for appeals in the Court of Appeal:
(1) If the counsel for the appellant or the respondent is aware that he or she would be unavailable for a period of time (due to religious or cultural reasons, maternity, attending conferences or being overseas), from the time of filing of the Notice of Appeal and at any time thereafter, he or she should write to court to inform them of the matter to avoid hearing dates for appeals from being fixed during that period.
(2) Appeal against Decision of the High Court after Full Trial Involving Oral Evidence
(a) A case management date will be scheduled by the Court of Appeal for the purpose of fixing hearing dates. Hearing dates will be fixed according to court diary, taking into consideration:
(i) the urgency of the matter;
(ii) the availability of counsel; and
(iii) the need for expeditious and efficient disposal of appeals (especially for older appeals).
Counsel attending court for case management must come equipped with their available dates for the next one to three months.
(b) Hearing dates may be fixed either in the morning or afternoon to accommodate the availability of counsel, who may be scheduled to appear in the High Court or Subordinate Courts on that same day.
(c) Hearing dates fixed by court cannot be brought forward or changed without the consent of the parties.
(3) Appeal against Decision of the High Court after Hearing of Affidavit-Based Proceedings, Interlocutory Applications and Motions for Leave to Appeal to the Court of Appeal
(a) Due to the large number of appeals of this nature, a case management date will not be scheduled for the purposes of fixing hearing dates. Instead, parties will be notified of the hearing date by the Court of Appeal.
(b) Parties will be informed of the hearing date by the Court of Appeal not less than one month before the scheduled hearing date.
(c) In the event that either or both parties are not able to attend court on the specified day and at the specified time, counsel are to write to court immediately, but not later than 10 days from the date of receipt of the notification of hearing date by fax from the Court of Appeal, and provide cogent reasons why either or both parties are unable to attend court on that day. Counsel are also required to furnish the court with alternative dates and times (morning or afternoon) within that same week, which are suitable to both parties. Counsel may request for the matter to be heard within the same week, either in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on availability of counsel.
(d) In the event that either or both parties are not able to attend court the whole week, counsel are to write to court immediately, but not later than 10 days from the date of receipt of the notification of hearing date by fax from the Court of Appeal, and provide reasons why parties are unable to attend court that whole week. Counsel are also required to furnish the court with alternative dates and times (morning or afternoon) within the period of one month from the originally scheduled hearing date, which are suitable to both parties.
(4) At the request of Bar Council, and to address the issue of lawyers having to rush to Putrajaya for the hearing of their appeals after completing a hearing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court or Subordinate Courts, the Court of Appeal has agreed to schedule a sitting of the Court of Appeal at the Jalan Duta Court Complex whenever the need arises, mainly in respect of Interlocutory Appeals. Members are advised to read notices from the Court of Appeal carefully in respect of the venue fixed for the appeal.
(5) Members are also advised to read the notices from the Court of Appeal carefully and in full, as some of these notices contain specific directions regarding the collection of sealed copies of notices of motion or directions dispensing with the notes of proceedings and/or grounds of judgment for the purposes of filing the Record of Appeal.
Please do not hesitate to contact Vilashini Vijayan by telephone at 03-2050 2095, or by email at vila@malaysianbar.org.my, should you require any clarification.
Thank you.
Brendan Navin Siva
Chairperson
Court Liaison Committee
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