“The Ministry of Justice has no shortage of judges,” the ministry’s undersecretary Abdul Latif Al-Harithy said, dismissing the common charge that a shortage of judges was the root cause of delay in disposing of cases.
Al-Harithy said the disputing parties themselves were responsible for the delay in completing court procedures and quoted from recent studies published by the ministry to support his argument.
The official was speaking to the press after signing an agreement to organize training programs for judges and other employees of the ministry on Monday.
On behalf of the ministry, Al-Harithy signed the agreement with Governor of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) Ali Al-Ghafees in Riyadh, Al-Watan daily reported yesterday.
According to the agreement the TVTC will train the ministry’s staff in various provinces in administrative and technical skills. The ministry is spending SR24.75 million to keep its judges and notaries well trained. The ministry is also offering training to its employees with the help of the TVTC to improve the support activities related to court procedures.
Earlier, the ministry organized evening training programs to 9,000 of its staff, he said.
Al-Harithy put the total number of employees at the ministry at 30,000. He added that newly recruited judges and notaries were also given training.
The ministry has conducted 43,000 training courses including 900 courses for notaries.
Speaking on the occasion, Al-Ghafees stressed the importance of training programs for the staff of various ministries for better administrative output.
The Supreme Judicial Council approved 49 training programs for all judges in the Kingdom last month. Unlike the TVTC training, the council’s programs will focus on legal procedures including rules of compensation, judicial specialization, sentencing in absentia and writing reports, Yasser Al-Balawi, judge at the Tabuk General Court, had said at the time. Each judge will attend between 18-25 training sessions annually under the plan.
Academics and specialists in judicial sciences and administration will conduct the training classes, he said.
