KUALA LUMPUR: Two Court of Appeal judges are expected to be elevated to the Federal Court soon.
A report by FMT quoting sources said Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Datuk Abu Bakar Jais will be filling the vacant slots in the apex court following the mandatory retirement of several judges recently.
Karim was appointed High Court judge on July 28, 2006 and promoted to the appellate court on July 28, 2006.
Meanwhile, Abu Bakar was appointed High Court judge on March 21, 2016, before being elevated to the Court of Appeal on Dec 5, 2019.
The source said five High Court judges will meanwhile be elevated to the appellate court.
They are Datuk Azmi Ariffin, Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan, Datuk Azhari Kamal Ramli, Datuk S.M. Komathy Suppiah, and Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing.
The source also said 10 judicial commissioners are set to be confirmed as High Court judges.
They are Nurulhuda Nur'aini Mohamad Nor, Norliza Othman, Hasbullah Adam, Datuk Seri Shamsulbahri Ibrahim, Roslan Mat Nor, Julia Ibrahim, Datuk Arief Emran Arifin, John Lee Kien How @ Mohd Johan Lee, Adlin Abdul Majid and Datuk Mohamad Abazafree Abbas.
The source said all the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Court judges will be at Istana Negara tomorrow to receive their appointment letters from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
On Nov 11, last year, Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the judiciary had sent two names to the Prime Minister's Department to fill up vacancies at the Federal Court following the mandatory retirement of Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof and Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh in May and July last year.
Candidates are proposed to the prime minister by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).
The JAC was established through the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009, which was gazetted on Feb 8, 2009.
The commission's objective is to ensure the process for the nomination, appointment and promotion of superior court judges is made in a transparent and comprehensive manner.
At present, the JAC has nine members, four of whom are the most senior judges in Malaysia, while the remaining five are appointed by the prime minister.