KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 3 -- With taxpayers increasingly bearing the cost of large court awards, a High Court judge has suggested it may be time for the federal government to seek partial or full recovery from the parties at fault in civil suits filed against the State.

The judge's remarks came as the court ordered the government to pay nearly RM37 million to the family of Pastor Raymond Koh for enforced disappearance, and over RM3 million to that of activist Amri Che Mat for negligence in a police investigation last month.

In his 126-page full grounds of judgment for the November 5 decision made available on the judiciary's website yesterday, High Court judge Su Tiang Joo warned that ever-higher damages awarded to reflect judicial abhorrenc...