KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 — High Court judges who are unable to write their judgments without undue delay can resign and leave the judiciary, Chief Justice Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said today.

He said judges must not only dispense justice without fear or favour, but must also deliver justice “without undue delay”.

“A judge who carries a backlog of 10 or more outstanding grounds of judgment is carrying a heavy burden, not just for the system, but on their own conscience. You know who you are,” he said in his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year 2026 here.

Noting the increasing number of unwritten grounds of judgment at the High Court level, Wan Ahmad Farid said the judiciary would do everything it could to help judges who are struggling to cope with the backlog.

“But we must be honest: there is a limit to assistance. The bench is a place for those who can stand the heat of the fire.

“I have to be fair to the litigants. I have to be fair to the Court of Appeal judges who cannot proceed with the appeal just because the grounds of the High Courts are not available,” he said.

Citing the public who await court decisions, he said such delays should not be allowed to happen.

“To put it bluntly, and I rarely say this: the kitchen is open, but the service must be timely. If the heat is no longer to your liking, the exit remains a dignified option,” he added in his speech.

Later, when asked during a press conference to explain his remark about a dignified exit for judges unable to cope, Wan Ahmad Farid said “it says what it says”.

The country’s top judge agreed this remark could be interpreted as saying that judges could resign or step down.

“You can interpret that way.”

He declined to state the exact number of unwritten judgments pending at the High Court, but confirmed that the judiciary has received “a lot of complaints” from litigants about such delays.

He said the backlogs in written judgments were mostly for civil cases, but there are also backlogs for criminal cases.

Wan Ahmad Farid said judges are required to release written grounds of judgment within eight weeks from the filing of a notice of appeal.

He said the written judgment is necessary to enable those who are dissatisfied with a judge’s decision to prepare their record of appeal, which would mean that the appeal cannot be heard.

“If the grounds of judgment is not prepared, the record of appeal is not complete; this is a problem. So many cases are postponed at the Court of Appeal, because the grounds of judgment is not ready,” he said.

For this timeframe of eight weeks to prepare court judgments from the time an appeal is filed, it applies to judges at the High Court and the courts below, namely Sessions Court and Magistrate’s Court.

Court of Appeal President Datuk Abu Bakar Jais told reporters that there is no similar problem of backlog of written judgments at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court level.

“There is no difficulty in having grounds of judgment for the Court of Appeal and Federal Court. The problem is not at that level,” Abu Bakar said.