Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Dubai: Dubai Courts Department (DCD) has become the first in the Middle East to launch an online programme that enables its clients to register civil cases electronically.
The newly-launched service came at a high commendation by DCD’s primary strategic partners, the lawyers, who said cases’ online registration saves time and money and boosts the judicial workflow.
DCD’s Director General Dr Ahmad Bin Hazeem Al Suwaidi launched the online case registration service along two other services during a gala ceremony on Tuesday evening.
The three services provide DCD’s clients with the facility for online case registration, access to the archive of case files, and free legal advice. DCD’s heads of courts and sections along with lawyers and members of the judicial industry attended the official launching ceremony.
During the ceremony Dr Al Suwaidi stressed on the importance of the strategic partnership between DCDs and law firms in Dubai and which aims to achieve justice and assist in the task of litigants to access their rights.
Speaking to Gulf News, advocate Dr Riyadh Al Kabban said: “The new services are extremely beneficial to law firms as they are times aving and money saving. They have also come to enforce the fact that lawyers and DCD are strategic partners and join hands when it comes to fulfilling their role in enforcing justice”.
His counterpart advocate Nassir Hashem praised the new services confirming that it would save time and money.
“This is an excellent move for the judicial workflow. Most important is that it grants lawyers the advantage to photocopy case files and inform their clients in advance on whether the lawyer would take up the case or not,” advocate Hashem told Gulf News.
Dr Al Suwaidi said: “DCD is always keen to provide innovative and modern procedures, along with meeting the needs of litigants. The online service programme, named Al-Salfaʹ, allows online case registration without the need to be physically present at the DCD’s premises.”
The first-of-its-kind in the Middle East, this service allows law firms and all litigants to register cases electronically, record every detail, upload identification papers, and send them to Dubai Courts online, said Dr Al Suwaidi.
DCD’s Director General said the programme was set on trial on February 1 and becomes mandatory on June 1 so that all cases can be registered online from anywhere in the world.
Unveiling the second programme, Dr Al Suwaidi said it allows plaintiffs to access the file archive online and print their cases, judgments, decisions and other information, without the need to visit the Courts to acquire these papers.
The Director General said DCD, in collaboration with its strategic partners the Dubai-based law firms, has launched a free legal advice programme titled ‘Sure’, where volunteering lawyers can offer free legal consultations to litigants.
By Bassam Zaza?Legal and Court ?Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
