Rarely has the appointment of a chief justice been that acclaimed. ?One of the best ones we have had?, says solicitor Pazany Rengasamy of the Law Reform Commission. ?A gentleman?, adds Shakeel Mohamed, MP but also a barrister.

As new Chief Justice Bernard Sik Yuen was sworn in yesterday afternoon at the State House in the presence of the president of the Republic, the prime minister as well as judges of the Supreme Court ? members of the legal profession could not hide their feeling of optimism. All those questioned justified this feeling by evoking Sik Yuen?s ?dynamism?, ?progressive approach? and ?dynamism.?

The CJ?s public statement to the effect that the reform of the judiciary was his priority tends to support the feel-good factor engendered by his appointment. ?He will bring dynamism to the system?, says lawyer Siddhartha Hawoldar. His colleague Dick Ng Sui Wah adds: ?The administration of justice will be rendered more efficient.? Hawoldar recounts that, a week ago, he was talking to the CJ about a case that he was thinking about bringing to the Supreme Court. ?I said to the then SPJ that I wasn?t sure I wanted to waste three years waiting for the case to be settled and he replied that, very soon, it wouldn?t take three years but three months. And I know he means it.?

What this means, in practical terms is that the new CJ will ensure that the implementation of the Mackay report, continues. The oft-mentioned report was drafted nine years ago after a team comprising Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Sir Hamid Moollan QC, late André Robert and Sunil Banymandhub were nominated by the president of the Republic in 1997. In the nine years since the report has been published, part of the recommendations have been implemented and that too, in a piecemeal manner.

Lord Mackay came back to Mauritius last year to update the recommendations and advise on their implementation. Government, on the other side, has made clear its intention to apply wholly the recommendations to the extent of mentioning it in the presidential address soon after being sworn in.

The Mackay report is in gist, about rendering the justice system more efficient so that it can serve its purpose better; serve the people.

The Mackay report is in gist, about rendering the justice system more efficient so that it can serve its purpose better; serve the people. The report tends to suggest - and this finds echo in all those who have had anything to do with the administration of justice - that at the moment, it is anything but. To do this, the report recommends the way courts of law are administered be reviewed and recommends that cases are heard continuously until they have been settled. Successive postponement of trials are frowned upon by the Mackay report.

?Some measures have already been implemented?, says lawyer Kishore Pertab. True. But, if the aim of implementing the Mackay recommendations is to ease the administration of justice, surely the results should have been felt by now? ?They are to a certain extent. Digital recorders have been installed for instance?, says barrister Joy Beeharry. Another lawyer who doesn?t wish to be named recounts that, a few days ago, he was at the district court in Pamplemousses and his client, exasperated by the fact that a case that started in 2002 still hasn?t made much headway because ?it had been postponed seven times and it was postponed again last week?, expressed her frustration in court.

?So, to all intents and purposes, the effect of the partial implementation of the Mackay report still hasn?t been felt by the citizen?, he concludes. In this particular case, the case is taking so long because it keeps being postponed. Cases are usually postponed on the request of lawyers. The report addresses what is probably one of the worse scourges of the justice system by recommending that a timetable be set at the very beginning of a trial and that it be respected so that the matter can be settled as quickly as possible.

Another unnamed source declares: ?Often lawyers themselves are hindrances either because they lack experience or because they haven?t been adequately trained. Sometimes it is also because they could not care less.? Having said that, the general agreement is that the system itself is cumbersome. But systems are made up of people. Which is probably why the Chief Justice said: ?A good general cannot do much good without good soldiers. It is only with the collaboration of the entire team - judges, magistrates, judicial auxiliaries and the legal profession - that we can perfect the administration of justice.?

For what it is worth, the general mood in the legal profession seems to be one ready to help the Chief Justice give a new lease of life to the judiciary.