Lawyers question court’s e-filing system
By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Lawyers are questioning the validity of an electronic filing system (EFS) that began last March 1, saying it might have eased queues in the country’s busiest court complex but could have also contravened basic rules.
They said Putrajaya’s haste to turn the courts electronic has exposed irregularities in the way payments are made and the legality of digital documents that do not bear any court seals.
Lawyer Shahredzan Johan, who handles general litigation, explained that each copy of the legal documents filed must bear the court’s seal to be valid.
However, with the court going digital now, these papers are no longer returned to the lawyers physically stamped but via email, which means that those same court documents cannot be served on the litigants.
“My reading is that it has not been stamped. A seal is something the court has to actually stamp on the documents before they can be served and not something you just download and print out,” Shahredzan told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.
The EFS at the Jalan Duta court complex was launched on March 1 and was supposed to cut out queues and paper at the registry office.
It requires all court work to be done electronically, including an Internet banking payment module that cannot work for corporate banking accounts.
The Malaysian Insider previously reported that it was because the banks currently do not allow any online fund transfers from corporate accounts, and law firms are considered as such.
Kuala Lumpur Bar chief, Brendan Navin Siva, said lawyers were told there is an Internet banking service for court payment, but added that when lawyers ask about it at their local bank branches, they are told it does not exist.
“They’re being laughed at by bank officers on the ground — who tell them, ‘There’s no such thing’,” Brendan said, recounting the increasing number of complaints from Bar members since the March 1 launch.
This despite the Internet banking service for court payments being featured on the judiciary’s website here. (http://portal.kehakiman.gov.my/)
