Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem had said amendments would be made to the civil and criminal procedure code soon and the relevant legislature to modernize the country’s legal system would be introduced in Parliament.
Minister Rauff Hakeem speaking to members of the Sri Lanka Summons and Writ Servers annual convention at the Valaichenai Court Complex said he discussed the issue with the Chief Justice and with the Judicial Service Commission.
He said administering justice had become a problem because of the delay in hearing cases and this could be overcome only with the assistance of the judges as well as the lawyers.
He said there were instances of delays in serving summons resulting in the delay of cases.
When the fiscal visits a place to serve summons, if the concerned person is not available the fiscal cannot serve the summons, thereby delaying the hearing of the case.
He said in such a state the fiscal has to go in search of the concerned person to his house several times for several days. In countries like India if the concerned person is not available the summons would be handed over to a mature person in the premises.
He said Sri Lanka too needs a similar system and he would try to introduce it very soon.
He said he would discuss with the authorities the problems that the fiscals face and would take measures to safeguard their dignity.
He said in the decade ‘70 to ‘80 the title of fiscal had been changed several times.
Unnecessary intervention of the bureaucracy had obstructed the implementation of solutions to the problems of the fiscals. It could be overcome by discussing the problems on a ministry level with the Minister of Public Administration, Minister Hakeem said.
He further said the Minister of Public Administration was a former Justice Minister and a lawyer and that would ease the matter.
He also underscored the importance of discussing the matter with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
DailyMirror.lk: