Former top judges daughter among 17 new judicial commissioners

Eight legal practitioners and nine judicial and legal service officers will serve in High Courts across the peninsula.

Wan Azliana Wan Adnan, 50, a lawyer from Kuala Terengganu, received her letter of appointment from Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh at a ceremony held here this afternoon.

Called to the Bar in 2001, Wan Azliana has been in legal practice for more than two decades. For the past two years, she has also served as a member of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Tribunal.

She is the daughter of the late Wan Adnan Wan Ismail, who served as chief judge of Malaya before being elevated to president of the Court of Appeal, the country’s second-highest court.

Of the 17 appointed, eight are private legal practitioners while the other nine are officers from the judicial and legal service.

The judicial and legal service appointees are Norhayati Ahmad, Zaman Noor, Elizabeth Paya Wan, Azhar Othman, Helina Sulaiman, Tengku Amir Zaki Abdul Rahman, Suraiya Mustafa Kamal, Nor Azizah Mohamad and Ku Hayati Ku Haron.

Among them, Tengku Amir was the chairman of the Industrial Court in Johor, Nor Azizah headed the sexual crimes and domestic violence unit at the Attorney-General’s Chambers, while Ku Hayati served as Negeri Sembilan’s director of prosecution.

The private practitioners appointed judicial commissioners are Tan Swee Cheng, Chan Kheng Ho, Ariff Azami Hussein, Marianne Antoinette Ghani, Nor Azam Rashid Zainol Rashid, Kalwant Singh, T Kumar and Wan Azliana.

Following the presentation of their appointment letters, the 17 judicial commissioners took their oath of office before Chief Judge of Malaya Hashim Hamzah. They will be posted to High Courts across Peninsular Malaysia.

Also present at the ceremony were Court of Appeal president Abu Bakar Jais and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Azizah Nawawi.

A judicial commissioner is appointed to temporarily perform the powers and duties of a High Court judge. Their performance is then assessed for consideration as permanent High Court judges.

Judicial commissioners are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the chief justice and the Judicial Appointments Commission.

Currently, 38 judicial commissioners are serving all over the country.