Circular No: 044/2022
Date: 6 May 2022
On 26 April 2022, the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee Criminal Law Practice Committee (“KLBC CLPC”) held a meeting with the Managing Judge of the Kuala Lumpur Criminal High Courts. There were several issues that was raised by the Managing Judge.
The KLBC CLPC was represented by the Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee Vivekananda Sukumaran, Honorary Secretary Alvin Oh Seong Yew, KLBC CLPC Co-Chairpersons Collin Arvind Andrew and Rajsurian Pillai (Co-Chairperson of Bar Council Legal Aid Centre, Kuala Lumpur).
We wish to highlight the matters raised by the Managing Judge during the said meeting:
1. Standard Operating Procedure (“SOP”)
Kindly note that the SOP for Court users issued by the Court during the pandemic will remain applicable until further directions are given. We would like to remind members to maintain social distancing as a usual practice particularly in the Courtroom.
For public interest cases and high profile cases, the Court has provided a video link room (live feed) for the public and media located at the lower ground.
2. Appointment Of Lawyers Under The Assigned Counsel Scheme
The Courts have informed us that there was a situation where a member had asked the Court to appoint him as the assigned counsel to handle a capital case when he was not in the assigned list.
Do note that the Court will only appoint counsel to handle capital cases if the member is under the assigned counsel scheme. The Bar Council Criminal Law Committee maintains a list of assigned counsels. Members who satisfy the list criterias under the scheme may accordingly apply. Further information regarding the assigned counsel scheme can be found here.
Vivekananda Sukumaran
Chairman
Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee
Collin Arvind Andrew
Rajsurian Pillai
Co-Chairpersons
Criminal Law Practice Committee