By Samar Al-Haisouni
Al-Madina
GOVERNMENT employees should carry out their duties sincerely and in the best possible manner, irrespective of their mental condition. I would like to focus here on the work of judges as well as employees who are associated with the functioning of the judiciary. Any negligence from their part would have a negative effect on the rights of individuals, hence their inaction would be considered unforgivable.
If court employees procrastinate on looking into grievances of people, it would result in big losses and damages that sometimes cannot be rectified.
Tremendous efforts have been made to develop the Kingdom’s judicial system but we still observe long delays in looking into cases of people and court proceedings, thus delaying justice.
Bureaucratic steps in courts have been simplified to speed up court proceedings. However, there are some government employees who are not qualified to deal with people who approach them to complete various procedures and paper work, especially women and the elderly. A number of problems have cropped up on a daily basis as a result of this incompetency.
We have observed substantial delay in dealing with cases of people as court officials do not give any value to their time and to the money they spent in their bid to retrieve their rights from defendants. They also ignore the difficult mental condition of petitioners who frequent the court many times without achieving their legitimate rights.
Court employees ignore the cases of these weak and downtrodden people and keep themselves busy with the cases of the wealthy and influential people, thus making these poor individuals angry and upset. This negligence of court employees and their lukewarm response will have a negative impact on the judicial system and this will lead to many people losing their legitimate rights.
Meanwhile, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and three other judges are facing investigation for showing laxity during working hours. Judges and judicial employees should also be questioned for delaying court procedures and thus infringing upon the rights of citizens and residents. There are many cases that were not taken up by courts at the required speed in order to retrieve the rights of people quickly.
We also know that many cases have not been submitted to court to take punitive action or issue verdicts on them. In some cases, the courts have given unconvincing explanations for the unacceptable delay in taking up cases.
I am not underestimating the investigation against judges who do not arrive on time at their work places. It is very important and we appreciate the efforts of the higher authorities for taking that timely action. At the same time, I would like to see action against judges and officials who delay court procedures thus causing damages to the rights of plaintiffs.
I would like to take this opportunity to request all employees involved in matters related to people’s rights to carry out their duties efficiently with a high degree of responsibility, because a slight negligence, even if it’s unintentional, would lead to a catastrophe with unpredictable consequences.
