Covid-19: Effects of Extended Conditional Movement Control Order on Court Operations *Update No. 3*
25 November 2020
On 20 November 2020, the Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the enforcement of the Conditional Movement Control Order (“CMCO”) in Kelantan from 21 November 2020 to 6 December 2020, and the cessation of CMCO in Terengganu, Johor (except Kota Tinggi and Mersing districts), Kedah (except Kulim district) and Melaka.
In view of the Minister’s announcement, the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia has issued a media statement on 21 November 2020 entitled “Notification of Handling of Cases in the Courts in the State of Kelantan Following the Conditional Movement Control Order (‘CMCO’) and Handling of Cases in Courts in the State of Terengganu, Johor (Except Kota Tinggi District and Mersing), Kedah (Except Kulim District) and Melaka Following the Cessation of CMCO ” pertaining to Court operations in the aforesaid affected States.
All Courts in Kelantan are required to adhere to the following from 21 November 2020 until 6 December 2020:
- Suspension and postponement of all civil and criminal cases
- Cases are to be handled in accordance with a previously issued guideline on 17 March 2020.
- All hearings and trials of ongoing civil and criminal cases will be postponed until further notice.
- Online hearings
- Online hearings (via e-Review system, exchange of e-mails and/or video conferencing) for court proceedings are to be handled in accordance with the guidelines which were issued on 26 March 2020 and 24 April 2020.
- Operations at Offices and Counter Services at the Courts
- The Chief Justice had ordered that a previously issued guideline on 3 May 2020 be applied. This guideline had listed certain court services that would be in operation throughout the period of CMCO.
As regards Terengganu, Johor (except Kota Tinggi District and Mersing), Kedah (except Kulim District) and Melaka, the guidelines mentioned in items (a) and (b) above (with the exception of guidelines in item(c)) shall cease to apply to all Courts in these States.
A summary of the guidelines in respect of items (a) to (c) above can be found in our earlier e-alert issued on 16 October 2020
here.
Alert prepared by Karen Tan (Associate) of Skrine.