80% of judges under online inspection system

The Justice Ministry’s new remote inspection system has brought 80 percent of the judges in the Shariah courts under online monitoring.
“The remote inspection system has been implemented in 100 courts in which 700 judges, who account for 80 percent of the total number of judges in the Kingdom, are working,” an informed source at the Ministry of Justice said. It added that the remaining 20 percent of the judges are subject to field inspections.
The online system can also discover a court’s need for more juries and distribute judges evenly in all courts, besides evaluating the performance of courts and judges.
Other advantages of the system include the speedy disposal of cases and reducing the delay in holding hearings. The system can also monitor case registrations and appointments for hearings, in addition to monitoring judicial activities.
The online system enables inspectors to monitor proceedings in a court from any place and even after working hours. The online linking system currently in place in courts enables judges to communicate with one another and alerts them to incoming cases in advance. This also includes access to case files outside the courts and office hours.
Another feature of the online system is that the disputing parties in a case will have access to the details of their case, which can assist them in preparing for upcoming hearings.
The Supreme Judiciary Council decided to introduce the remote inspection system last year, with the aim of bringing about a qualitative shift in the country’s legal system with more efficiency and speed.
According to the statutes governing the judiciary system, 30 cases handled by a judge should be inspected and evaluated at least once, or twice if possible, in a year. A judge who receives less than average grading in his evaluation will be subject to monitoring in all the cases he handles, according to the statues. The inspection also covers judges in appeal courts and deals with complaints by or against judges.
Another informed source put the number of marriage clerks in the Kingdom at 5,171. The Ministry of Justice issues licenses allowing marriage clerks to become eligible to register marriages only if they are Saudi and hold a university degree, with a specialization in Shariah.