Aug 16, Colombo: The Justice Ministry of Sri Lanka is to amend laws to increase the existing number of High Court judges to accelerate the hearing of cases.

Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem has said the Judicature Act would be amended to increase the number of High Court judges to lessen delays in the hearing of cases.

He has noted that there are currently 75 High Court judges in the country and the number would be increased to 95 once the law is amended.

He has explained that work in the proposed special High Courts to hear cases against LTTE suspects has been affected due to the lack of High Court Judges.

The special courts were proposed by the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) to expedite the hearings of the cases against LTTE suspects.

According to Hakeem, the backlog of cases would be cleared once the cadre of High Court judges is increased.