With a handful of judges sitting on the bench, a massive backlog of cases has created a considerable delay of justice, prompting an immediate intervention of the King to order and fund new court system. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two holy Mosques, has approved SR7 billion funneled to revamp the judicial system through upgrading its mechanisms and integrating it into a comprehensive framework to cut back on complaints of legal slow procedures, mostly attributed to the drastic shortage of judges. The figures speak up Temselves. With only 745 judges of the Ministry of Justice ruling in 266 courthouses across the nation, a statistical report released in 2006 showed that the ratio of the judges to the population was 4.2:100,000. And with 173 judges of the Board of Grievances, or the Administrative Court, the ratio has plunged to 0.73:100,000. Minister of Justice reportedly admitted the shortage of judges during a visit to Madina Court in March last year. He said that the number of judges would have been increased to 1,600 by Jan. 2008. No figures are available as of now to ascertain whether that number has been met yet. In Jeddah, with a population of over 3.5 million people, the Administrative Court has only 15 judges working in five court circuits, with three judges in each looking into 1,800 to 2,000 cases every year. Judges are apparently overstrained with an overload of cases, especially if taken into account the tremendous increase in the number of cases every year estimated at 20 -30 percent. Other types of courts also struggle with the shortage of judges. Jeddah has only 18 commercial circuits, tasked with resolving commercial disputes, and punitive circuits, tasked with looking into criminal cases of forgery, fraud, and bribery. And one disciplinary circuit which disciplines civil servants. Only 68 judges work in all of these circuits. The Eastern Province, the largest region in the Kingdom, is even in a worse situation with only one administrative court, leaving no choice to the judges but to pile up cases for months, if not years. It is, indeed, a time-consuming task for an administrative judge to personally do all legal procedures of a case with no support staff, petitioners at a court in the Eastern Province sympathized. Malik Al-Saddik, a disabled citizen, said for more than a year he has been frequenting the court for a lawsuit he filed against his boss at government office. No verdict has been pronounced yet, he said. Sheikh Muhammed Al-Dhubn, chief of the Administrative Court in Eastern Province, said it is not uncommon for a judge at the administrative court to set aside a case for months. Cases are usually processed in the order they were received, he said. “Time-pressure environment and complications of cases lead to the delay of justice, especially if the case is not urgent,” he said. Sheikh Dhubn said there were only 20 judges in all the circuits in the Eastern Province looking into all types of cases including civil and criminal cases. He said a judge's share of cases to look into may go up to 500 a year, denying any deliberate slow processing of cases. “The Administrative Court in the Eastern Province retains tight control over its circuits to prevent deficiency in the performance of the judiciary staff,” he said. When asked about a judge doing all legal procedures with no help and thus taking more time to issue a verdict, he said “Yes, that's correct.” The copious note-taking of evidence by hand, coupled by making phone calls and going from one office to another, is a concerted effort, indeed. But there is more to the delay of justice than shortage of judges. The defendants themselves. Some keep stringing the court along either by trying to buy more time through tricks or failing to show up at all in court for hearing despite repeated summons. For his part, Sheikh Dr. Muhammed Abdulqadir, chief of the Administrative Court in Madina, denied any delay on the part of the judges, throwing the blame on the variety and magnitude of cases. “That would prolong the hearing sessions and procedure, in part attributed to no-shows in court on the part of defendants. “The Administrative Court looks into cases filed by citizens against government agencies and officials,” he said. These types of cases usually take a longer time because they involve government offices which take time to reply to the court's inquiries, he said. “Sometimes cases are delayed because they end up in the wrong court,” he said. There are 21 judges working in five circuits at the Madina Administrative Court ruling in administrative, punitive, commercial, disciplinary cases, Dr.Abdulqadir said. He claimed that the number of the judges in the court is enough in proportion to the number of cases. But the Qassim Administrative Court doesn't hide its struggle with the shortage of judges. “But it is a 4-month-old court, previously called the Board of Grievances,” said a source. “The new beginning of the court has delayed delivery of justice,” the source added. There are only nine judges in the court ruling in cases, of which 90 percent have been filed against government offices and civil servants. The legal system, however, gives the judge a month to study a case, but it might take a much longer time to reach his desk, he said. In line with the new judiciary law, Sheikh Muhammed Abdullah Al-Amin, Chairman of the Board of Grievances gave his directions for the conversion of the branches of the board of grievances into administrative courts and the opening of new administrative courts in Tabuk, Hail, North Frontier, Jizan, Najran and Baha. Dr. Muhammad Al-Isa, Deputy Chairman of the Administrative Court, said the Board has taken long strides towards the computerization of the judiciary system so as to introduce the e-court system; a convenient procedure that would expedite judiciary services. Breaking away from the Ministry of Justice, the newly-independent Administrative Court would need to add more administrative circuits to satisfy the task it has been created for, studying cases against government offices and civil servants, legal experts said. All the commercial and punitive cases will be transferred to general and commercial courts within two years, they said. Some other experts suggested that creation of family reconciliation offices to look into family cases, especially marital, before they are forwarded to judges, as in Jeddah General Court. One reason for the shortage of judges was said to have been judges on sabbatical leave to pursue their higher education at the Higher Judiciary Institute, leaving their courtrooms with a pileup of backlog of cases. - Okaz __
