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The following is issued on behalf of the Judiciary :

Members of the public can now obtain hearing details, including dates, time and court number of their cases in the Lands Tribunal through telephone--the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System.

"It has always been one of the Judiciary's objectives to upgrade our services to support the operation of the courts.

"By installing of this device in the system, court users can gain easy access to information about their cases," a spokesman for the Judiciary said.

The system operates in Chinese, English and Putonghua round-the-clock.

The same system which has been serving the District Court and the Small Claims Tribunal for two years already, proved to be popular.

"In addition to hearing details for cases to be heard, members of the public can also make use of the IVR system to obtain general information about the court, same with the Probate Registry, Family Court Registry, Labour Tribunal and Bailiff Office," the spokesman said.

"The Judiciary is committed to provide better services to court users with a view to enhance effectiveness and efficiency," the spokesman cited some examples :

- the High Court Registry has introduced the system of multi-purpose counters to provide a one-stop service to court users in filing different types of documents

- Enquiry Counter Ticket Dispenser and smart-queue system are installed in the Lands Tribunal which help streamline the applications and shorten queuing time

- The opening hours of the shroff offices in Magistrates' Courts have moved up to 9 am as well as extended to cover lunch hours on weekdays

- Easy Pay System (EPS) Terminals have been installed at shroff counters of all courts and tribunals for payment of court fees, fines and bail money to facilitate court users.

"Meanwhile, a system is being developed for Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) to be used for payment of fines, which is expected to be launched in the second quarter of 2001," he added.

The spokesman noted that in face of rising expectations of the community, the Judiciary would continue to further enhance its services to court users and members of the public.

End/Thursday, January 25, 2001

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