JURISDICTION OF SMALL CLAIMS TRIBUNAL

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Law if he will give an update on the work of the Small Claims Tribunal; and whether there is any need to revise the jurisdiction of the Tribunal

Prof. S. Jayakumar: The Small Claims Tribunals were set up to provide a speedy and inexpensive machinery to handle small claims of $2000 or less.

In 1993, a total of 24,310 claims were filed in the tribunals. The figures for 1991 and 1992 were 25,465 claims and 28,517 claims respectively.

All claims filed in 1993 have been disposed of expeditiously. Time taken was: Consumer claims - 7 days. Non-consumer claims - 14 days. Tourist claims - Within the same day.

Despite the substantial number of claims, the tribunals have been able to maintain a waiting time of not more than 1 week for consumer claims and 2 weeks for non-consumer claims, resulting in cutting down waiting time by more than half.

A few days ago, the Chief Justice in his Keynote Address at the Subordinate Courts Third Workplan Seminar said that since these tribunals are a quick and inexpensive forum for the resolution of disputes, we should broaden their scope so that more people can make use of this alternative to the civil courts. For this reason, he has directed a working party of judicial officers to review the Small Claims Tribunals Act and, in particular, to consider extending the jurisdiction of the tribunals both in terms of the value as well as the nature of claims.

My Ministry will await the recommendations of the working party before deciding whether to revise the jurisdiction of the tribunals.