Saudi judges at the Board of Grievances (Administrative Judiciary) in Saudi Arabia will be able to preside over cases and interact with litigants from home as soon as the Board goes online once the e-government project, signed on Saturday, becomes operational less than a year from now. On Saturday, Mohammad Al-Amin, Chairman of the Board of Grievances in Saudi Arabia, had signed two e-government contracts with a national company chaired by Prince Faisal Bin Ahmad Bin Abdul Aziz. Amin told reporters that the project comes in the context of modernizing the Board of Grievances. That in itself is part of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Project for Modernization of the Judicial System, the total cost of which is expected to be SR7 billion, he added. After the e-government system at the Board of Grievances goes online, an integrated array of services will be provided. Plaintiffs will be able to file their pleadings to the Board through an internet portal and argue before judicial circuits electronically. Parties in lawsuits will also be informed of the times of hearings either by accessing the system or through e-mail and SMS. As part of the operation of getting the Board of Grievances online, which started three years ago, the e-government project will convert all paper documents into electronic files. According to Majed Al-Adwan, information technology director at the Board, the Board drew on experiences of countries such as the US, Malaysia and Singapore, in designing its IT plan. He added that a plan has been put in place to train all Board staff on e-transactions. The Board's portal will analyze information to create indicators reflecting the standard of performance of the Board's officials. It will also be able to process and vet cases to give the Board's leadership the ability to judge the performance of litigation processes and assess productivity. The portal contract also calls for the creation of a database to store information on cases, as well as various regulations, bylaws, orders, decisions, international agreements, principles and verdicts. __
