JEDDAH: A Riyadh court is considering a lawsuit against the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is accused of unreasonably delaying the provision of legal support for people who have problems with the ministry.
The legal action comes from a group of 25 lawyers, who claim they were subject to a five-year delay in receiving their license to start practicing, even though they had already set up a charity for the purpose. The Administration Court is considering their case.
“The five-year delay has hindered our efforts in organizing legal assistance for the needy, including old women, poor workers, overstayers and people arrested for breaking governmental regulations,” said lawyer Abdullah Al-Nasiry, who was originally behind the idea of the charity.
An official at the ministry claimed the lawyers never approached them for updates, Al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday. The unnamed official confirmed that the 25 lawyers had not received their license until now and were refused to explain the delay. The Ministry of Social Affairs in Riyadh told Arab News it knew nothing about the lawsuit or the lawyers.
Al-Nasiry hit back at the ministry’s claims and said the charity’s founders had completed the required procedures to obtain a license and visited the ministry several times for a response.
“The latest communication (to the ministry) was an official letter we addressed to the minister requesting that he speed up the process and grant us the license. We always get a reply that the matter is still being considered and that we ought to wait,” he added.
He said that according to the Administration Court’s bylaws, the ministry’s reaction in granting the lawyers the license is considered a “negative decision,” especially given that over 60 days had passed since the lawyers submitted their last letter to the minister in 1429A.H.
“In other words, this negative decision means they have refused to give us the license. Yet we haven’t received any official documents that state their refusal and that’s why my colleagues and I are objecting through the courts,” said Al-Nasiry.
