Separation of judicial and legal services proposal submitted for approval: Arifin Zakaria

KUALA LUMPUR: A proposal to separate the judicial and legal services has been submitted to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission and may be ready by year-end, said Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria (pix).
"Should the plan be approved by the commission, the judicial service will be headed by the Chief Registrar while the legal service is to be under the Attorney-General's purview," he said.
He stressed that both services will still be under the same commission and will not affect the legal officers' transfer.
Currently, the head for both services is the Attorney-General.
He announced the plan to the press when asked to comment on the matter today.
"(The) separation is good because there won't be a conflict of interest.
"I'll push for it," he said after launching the 2016 Judicial Officers Conference here.
He had touched on the issue earlier in his opening remarks.
"In my opinion, it is unwise for the Attorney-General to head the judicial and legal officers' services. This is because the Attorney-General is under the (government's) executive branch, while the judicial officers is under the judiciary branch.
"If the Attorney-General maintains in the present role, I'm concerned that it would create a negative perception on the freedom of the judiciary system," he said.
On the government's proposal to establish a Cyber Court, he had welcome the move and it "can be set up anytime".
"Ten personnel have been identified and will be sent abroad for training," he said.