The Ministry of Justice has decided to bring amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure.
Accidents are on the rise these days and the number of cases filed in the courts is also on the rise.
In such a case, a case has to be filed in a civil court to get relief for such an accident. The victim or heir is required to submit a forensic medical report and other medical reports.
They are marked in court as reports subject to mandatory proof. The victim or heir must confirm to the court that the medical officer will appear before the court to give evidence to substantiate the contents of those reports.
It takes 10-12 years for such a traffic accident case to be finalized and if the relevant medical officer is working in a remote area of the country during that time, he should be brought to Colombo on the day of the case.
The Ministry of Justice has identified this as an unnecessary burden on the government and a waste of his valuable time. Accordingly, the Code of Civil Procedure should be amended to make provision for summoning of the forensic medical report, post-mortem report and bedridden evidence and to place the burden of breaking the medical evidence on the defendant when the defendant disagrees. Ali Sabbari, PC, Minister of Justice, had directed the Cabinet to instruct a Legal Adviser to draft the Constitution.