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Media Release: Court volunteers honoured for outstanding contributions to the judiciary
Forty-three volunteers of the Supreme Court, State Courts and Family Justice Courts were honoured for their staunch commitment to pro bono work amid the COVID-19 pandemic. From a professional mediator who helped accelerate the implementation of e-Mediation for the Small Claims Tribunals, to an IT student who undertook a project to develop an online pre-assessment tool to help parties determine their eligibility for claims under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act, to a veteran lawyer who, despite his hectic schedule, had been a consistent and adept court mediator for 10 years, volunteers have continued to support the Judiciary in ensuring that justice remains accessible to all.
2. Volunteers constitute an important pillar in the Singapore Judiciary, complementing the work of the Courts. Steadfast dedication to pro bono work goes towards an effective and accessible system of justice. In 2020, among the robust 330-strong court volunteer pool, a total of three Outstanding Court Volunteer awards and 40 Long Service Awards were conferred to recognise volunteers for their outstanding contributions, commitment and dedication to support the work of the Judiciary.
Awards Conferred
3. The Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards 2020 in three categories were presented to the following individuals:
- Advocate and Solicitor Category: Mr Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy
- Open Category: Mr Indu Kumar Vasudevan
- Student Category: Mr Jordan Lim Zi Rui
4. The 40 Long Service Awards conferred include two Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (LASCO) long service award of 25 years’ service or more, and 38 Court Volunteer Long Service Awards of 10 years’ service conferred by the State Courts and Family Justice Courts. These awards give recognition to volunteers in various vocations, including pro bono criminal defence in a capital matter, mediation, committee and project contributions, for their time and dedication in supporting the work of the Courts. Please refer to Annex A for the full list of award recipients and Annex B for details of the Outstanding Court Volunteer Award recipients.)
5. While the unprecedented global situation has invariably altered the many facets of daily routines and presented various challenges in the continuity of work, it has also served as an excellent opportunity to think about how we can better leverage technology in the administration of justice. With the accelerated adoption of technology throughout the Judiciary, court volunteers from the Supreme Court, State Courts and Family Justice Courts have readily embraced court technology, such as video conferencing and online mediation, amid the pandemic in aiding court users.
6. Expressing his deep appreciation in a message to all volunteers today, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said, “Justice, of course, is not confined to the traditional modes of dispute resolution. Equally important are the peace-building processes that help foster enduring restorative solutions … All of you play a critical role in supporting the Judiciary and I express my heartfelt thanks for your selfless dedication to the worthy cause of ensuring that justice remains accessible to all”.
7. For the safety and well-being of the court volunteers, the annual Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation Dinner has been dispensed with this year. To express our appreciation to the court volunteers, the Courts delivered to them, cookies baked by the Yellow Ribbon Industries Bakery with a message from Chief Justice Menon. Please refer to Annex C for the message.
Issued by: Supreme Court, State Courts and Family Justice Courts
Date: 10 November 2020
Enclosed:
- Annex A: Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation 2020 – Award recipients
- Annex B: Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards 2020 – Award recipients
- Annex C: Message from the Chief Justice: Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation 2020
About the Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation
The Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation recognises the sterling contributions of court volunteers who have assisted and supported the Judiciary’s various programmes for litigants and court users. Comprising members of the Bar, professionals and individuals from diverse backgrounds, court volunteers play an important role in the Judiciary’s effort to ensure that everyone who needs to access justice before the Courts is able to do so with the help of lawyers and other volunteers.
Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards 2020
The Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards (Advocate & Solicitor Category and Open Category) are conferred by the State Courts and presented to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding, commitment and dedication as volunteers with the State Courts. The Outstanding Court Volunteer Award (Student Category), conferred by the State Courts, recognises students who volunteer their time with the State Courts. Students work closely with the State Courts in a range of projects based on their relevant academic experience and expertise.
Annex A
Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards
| Name of Court | Name of Volunteer | Award |
|---|---|---|
| State Courts | Mr Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy* | Outstanding Court Volunteer Advocate & Solicitor Category |
| State Courts | Mr Indu Kumar Vasudevan | Outstanding Court Volunteer Open Category |
| State Courts | Mr Jordan Lim Zi Rui | Outstanding Court Volunteer Student Category |
*Also the recipient of the 10-year Court Volunteer Long Service Award
Long Service Awards:
| Name of Court | Name of Volunteer | Long Service Award |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court | Mr James Bahadur Masih | Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (LASCO) |
| Supreme Court | Mr Mahendran Mylvaganam | Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (LASCO) |
| State Courts | Mr Amolat Singh | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Cheong Aik Chye | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Abdul Salim Ahmed Ibrahim | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Ms Anjalli Muniandy | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Balasubramaniam Appavu | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Chan Jin Han | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Chen Nan Chung Burton | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Cheng Sun Cheok Alvin | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Chew Kei-Jin | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Choo Chih Chien Benjamin | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Daryl Ong Hock Chye | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Goh Choong Sien, Aloysius | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Ms Goh Mia Yang | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Kamalarajan Malaiyandi Chettiar | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Kang Kim Yang | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Dr Karunanithy Ramasamy | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Lam Kuet Keng Steven John | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Ms Lim Ching Ching Sandra | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Ms Lim Lei Theng | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Lim Tat | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Lim Wei Loong Ian | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Dr Loke Chi Wei Peter< | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Associate ProfessorLum Kit Wye | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Mathavan Devadas | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Melvin Chan Kah Keen | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Ms Neoh Sue Lynn | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Nicholas Philip Lazarus | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Patrick Tan Tse Chia | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr See Chern Yang | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Seet Pek Hian Harold | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Sim Chong | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Tan Heng Khim | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Tan Lam Siong | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Wan Kwong Weng | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Ms Wong Su-Hsien Audrey | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| State Courts | Mr Yuen Djia Chiang Jonathan | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
| Family Justice Courts | Mr Ng Ngiap Khiang, Francis | Court Volunteer (10-years) |
Annex B
Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards 2020 recipients
- Mr Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy
Award: Outstanding Court Volunteer Award (Advocate & Solicitor Category)
– conferred by the State Courts
Mr Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy is a versatile and highly competent Court Volunteer Mediator, adept at mediating both civil and criminal cases. Having joined the State Courts panel of volunteer mediators since 2010, Mr Rengarajoo has shown utmost commitment and determination in mediating cases assigned to him. One of our most active volunteers, Mr Rengarajoo has concurrently received the 10-year Long Service Award.
- Mr Indu Kumar Vasudevan
Award: Outstanding Court Volunteer Award (Open Category)
– conferred by the State Courts
Mr Indu Kumar Vasudevan was the first Court Volunteer Mediator to use the e-Mediation module in the Community Justice and Tribunals System to mediate a Small Claims Tribunals (SCT) matter when e-Mediation was introduced in 2018. In this connection, he provided invaluable feedback on the module to improve users’ experience when participating in e-Mediation. As an experienced mediator, Mr Kumar has been dedicated in helping court users explore solutions to resolve their disputes amicably.
- Mr Jordan Lim Zi Rui
Award: Outstanding Court Volunteer Award (Student Category)
– conferred by the State Courts
Mr Jordan Lim Zi Rui displayed great enthusiasm in leveraging his expertise acquired while pursuing his diploma in Information Technology at Temasek Polytechnic to develop an online pre-assessment tool, which helps parties determine their eligibility to file a Notification for Relief under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act. Working closely with the State Courts, the project was successfully implemented on 21 April 2020 amid the height of the pandemic. To date, it has been used more than 7,000 times, aiding the community in these unprecedented times.
Photos of Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards 2020 recipients
| Mr Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy |  |
| Mr Indu Kumar Vasudevan |  |
| Mr Jordan Lim Zi Rui |  |
| Group picture Mr Jordan Lim, Mr Indu Kumar and Mr Rengarajoo (left to right) |
 |
Annex C
Message from the Chief Justice: Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation 2020
9 November
I hope you are keeping well in this challenging season. During this time of the year, we customarily get together at the annual Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation event. This is an event which affords the Supreme Court, State Courts and Family Justice Courts the opportunity to recognise and to express our gratitude for your many contributions to the work of the Judiciary. Unfortunately, we have decided that we will not be able to do that this year because your safety and well-being are our utmost concern.
2. Nevertheless, we want to express our heartfelt appreciation for all that you have done in the course of this past year to advance our mission to administer justice. Within the next few days, you will receive from us two jars of cookies. These were baked by Yellow Ribbon Industries Bakery, a subsidiary of Yellow Ribbon Singapore. We hope you will enjoy this small treat and join us in supporting the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders.
3. Justice, of course, is not confined to the traditional modes of dispute resolution. Equally important are the peace-building processes that help foster enduring restorative solutions. Here, I continue to be delighted by the efforts of our judiciary volunteers and the excellent contributions they make as pro bono lawyers, mediators and as members of committees and projects. We are privileged to be able to call upon around 330 volunteers, across the three courts this year. All of you play a critical role in supporting the Judiciary and I express my heartfelt thanks for your selfless dedication to the worthy cause of ensuring that justice remains accessible to all.
4. As a token of our appreciation, we will be presenting three Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards and 40 Long Service Awards this year. For the full list of this year’s award recipients, please refer to the attached document.
5. I would like to highlight a few of the award winners. First, let me commend the contribution of Mr Indu Kumar, who is the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Court Volunteer Award in the open category. Indu was the first Court Volunteer Mediator to use the e-Mediation module in the Community Justice and Tribunals System to conduct mediation for Small Claims Tribunals (“SCT”) court users online, when e-Mediation was introduced in 2018. He gave invaluable feedback to the SCT on how the user experience could be improved. As a result, we were able to implement improvements that greatly contributed to the successful implementation of the module.
6. Next, let me mention Mr Jordan Lim, the Outstanding Court Volunteer Award recipient in the student category this year, who worked closely with the State Courts to develop an online pre-assessment tool to help parties determine their eligibility to file a Notification for Relief under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act. Jordan used the skills acquired while pursuing his IT diploma to develop a pre-assessment tool within a very short span of three weeks. This project presents justice as a public service available to all, rather than as the exclusive preserve of a few.
7. We also honour, as an Outstanding Court Volunteer under the advocate and solicitor category, Mr Rengarajoo Rengasamy Balasamy, who will concurrently receive a 10-year Long Service Award. Despite the extensive demands on his time as a lawyer and his involvement in several Arbitral Panels, Rengarajoo is a consistent Court Volunteer Mediator who achieved an impressive settlement rate of 75% last year.
8. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the many long service award recipients from the three courts. Deserving of special mention are Mr James Bahadur Masih and Mr Mahendran Mylvaganam, who have volunteered under the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences and served tirelessly for more than 25 years. It is never easy to juggle pro bono work with the pursuit of one’s legal career.
9. Thank you for your continued support and stay safe. I wish each of you and your families the very best for the new year.
Sundaresh Menon
Chief Justice
2021/09/30
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