Johannesburg — The Judicial Education Institute Bill, the least controversial of new laws intended to transform the judiciary, has been approved unanimously by Parliament's justice committee.

The original proposals, made some years ago, for judicial training raised an outcry because they put that training in the hands of government and not the judges.

The bill approved yesterday puts control of the institution and its governing council in the hands of the chief justice.

While the justice minister or her nominee is represented on the council, most of the council members are connected to the judiciary or the legal profession.

The chief justice and his deputy head the council, along with a Constitutional Court judge designated by the chief justice, a nominee (who could be a judge) from the Judicial Service Commission, the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, two judges-president, five magistrates, a retired judge, an advocate nominated by the General Council of the Bar, an attorney designated by the Law Society, and two university law teachers.

An additional two laymen can be nominated by the minister after consulting the chief justice.

"The committee stresses that all policy decisions regarding the institute, and particularly the training curricula, would be determined by the council, of which the majority of members would be judicial officers," the committee said in its report to the National Assembly.

It also expressed concern that the cost implications of the institute had not been completed.

"Obviously it would be unreasonable to expect a precise costing to have been completed at this stage but we are concerned that there is not even a broad estimate of the cost," the committee reported.

The bill must now pass its second reading debate in the National Assembly before it can go to the National Council of Provinces for consideration. Only once the council has approved the bill can it go to the president to be signed into law.