Delays and Case Backlogs in
Environmental Cases
Woo Bih Li
Judge
Supreme Court of Singapore
9 December 2012
Outline
• Dealing with backlogs in environmental cases
• General case management in civil and criminal cases
Backlogs in environmental cases
• Singapore does not currently have a backlog for environmental cases• Average amount of time taken to conclude the cases in
the Night Court is 4-6 months• Average amount of time taken to conclude the trial
cases is 1-2 months
• 3 reasons:• Active engagement• Diversionary measures• Court-based measures
Source: NEA
Workload for environmental cases
Year 2009 2010 2011Total number of cases
84,384 68,940 52,990
Cases compounded before court mention
44,613 36,841 28,366
Cases listed for first mention in Court 26N
39,771 32,099 26,378
Cases fixed for trial in Court 14
3 4 0
Source: NEA
Breakdown for environmental cases
Type of Offence
2009 2010 2011
Littering 41,809 23,730 10,565Unlicensed hawking
12,193 9,975 14,025
Mosquito breeding 13,694 16,544 13,220Smoking 4,968 4,850 5,081Food hygiene 2,863 3,797 2,789Smoky vehicle 337 9,735 6,686Noise pollution 94 309 624
Source: NEA
Active engagement
Source: NEA
Diversionary measures
Court-based measures
Night Courts
General case management
• Diversionary measures - use of ADR
• Facilitative measures - manpower
Use of technology
Supreme Court Workload Statistics
2008 2009 2010 2011
Matters filed 13,957 14,817 13,363 13,146Civil
Criminal13,637
32014,414
40312,919
44412,729
417
Matters disposed of
13,538 14,295 13,137 12,859
CivilCriminal
13,243295
13,934361
12,722415
12,407452
Clearance rate(Civil & criminal)
97% 96% 98% 98%
Source: Supreme Court of Singapore
Thank You