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RIYADH: The Shoura Council on Wednesday called on the Ministry of Justice to speedily settle 143,000 delayed cases in courts across the Kingdom.
Reviewing a report presented on Wednesday by the Ministry of Justice, the Shoura Council urged the ministry to provide material, human and technical requirements to the general, criminal and family affairs courts to dispose of cases as quickly as possible.
The council also stressed the need to provide a good judicial environment in rented buildings and ensure job security for judges.
The council asked the Ministry of Justice to devote more procedural work to the private sector and verify reasons for the failure of reconciliation offices.
The members also urged the ministry to attract qualified cadres for the technical and procedural development in the judicial sector.
Although the recommendation was widely accepted by the majority of Shoura members, initiated by Abdulrahman Al-Atwi, one member, Fahad Al-Inizi, rejected it.
Al-Inizi said such a recommendation will interfere with the independence of the judiciary.
The council also affirmed what was stated in Article 5 of the Shoura Council’s decision no. 56/33 dated 29/6/1435 AH, which stipulates “expedited establishment of the Alimony Fund.”
Recently, the Supreme Judicial Council directed judges to speed up trials so as to avoid a delay in disposing of cases. Judges were directed not to miss court sessions, the schedules of which have previously been set, said the sources.
“Judges and court presidents will be held responsible for delayed cases. The court presidents should follow up on the sessions and make sure that they are held on time according to the set work process.”
The council stated that court sessions must be held regularly and on time. There should be a follow-up, and failure to do this will be a violation of obligations, and against the functions of the courts.
Former Shoura member Usamah Al-Kurdi told Arab News that this is a commendable decision to clear the backlog of cases in the courts. He recalled that a sum of SR9 billion has been allocated for judicial reforms in the Kingdom, which would include more judges, better court systems, new court building and a greater number of staff to handle more cases.
Al-Kurdi said that the idea of this recommendation is to revamp the judiciary and ease the distress of the people who are waiting eagerly to settle their long-standing court cases.
Musad Al-Zayani, a Saudi journalist based in Dubai, told Arab News that most of them were child custody and dowry-related cases. "It’s good to know that some substantial action will be taken to resolve these issues which will mainly help families,” he said, recalling that there were 84,000 child custody cases reported in the Kingdom during a period of seven months.
Child custody cases were the highest in Riyadh at 1,046, followed by Jeddah (764), and Makkah (473) during the period of seven months.