ABU DHABI- The Ministry of Justice launched the virtual digital pleading initiative, which allows the lawsuits’ parties to present their statements and requests before the courts in a digital way, within the framework of achieving the objectives of the UAE Strategy for Government Services, which was approved by the Council of Ministers headed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in raising the country’s competitiveness in providing services and strengthening its efforts to become the best government in the world in government services.
The initiative, which can be accessed through the smart justice system in its updated version, represents a new step to ensure the promotion of activating the policies that support digital transformation in the UAE government, and the adoption of digital solutions that contribute to providing the best government services. It also comes within the services and initiatives of the digital justice system that achieve speedy access to litigants, anywhere and anytime without any restrictions, and through digital channels.
The "virtual digital pleading" aims to enable the plaintiff to access the system and record his statements and requests in the lawsuit, and at the same time allow the defendant to respond to these requests under the supervision of the competent judge or case manager, while achieving flexibility in time, and enabling the two parties to exchange requests and responding to them throughout the specified day for the session.
Counselor Dr. Saeed Ali Bahbouh Al Naqbi, Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, confirmed that the virtual digital pleading initiative is another step that enters into force in the judicial system within digital services, and forms a qualitative leap in shortening the time and effort in the judiciary work in the UAE.
''It reflects the directions of our rational government in developing all government transactions, in line with global transformations, to reach the first positions in international classifications, and simulate the needs of litigants and lawyers, for speed, efficient, transparent and advanced justice, available remotely and around the clock, facilitating the litigants’ journey and accelerating their access to court sessions, from anywhere and anytime, enabling them to experience the best government services across the world, and contributing to saving time, effort and money.''
Al Naqbi said that the pleading is based on give and take between the two parties of the case, and each of them presents his defences, arguments, evidence and requests, through memoranda, documents, previous judicial rulings and evidence. Previously, it used to happen directly, either by the presence of the parties to the case in person to the court, or their virtual presence from a distance before the judge, and according to the schedule of pre-set sessions, which did not take a lot of time, effort and procedures for the litigants, and by launching this service, the form of pleading shifted from its previous system to a system of an instant conversation between the lawsuit parties, which takes place directly, and their statements are recorded and documented in the digital pleading minutes and the digital case record.
He added that the service can be accessed, and the digital pleading minutes can be viewed via smart phones or the website so that this service remains available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that the lawsuit parties can add any new evidence or document whenever they want. This facilitates the journey for litigants to access court sessions at any time and from anywhere, and works effectively in accelerating the pace of litigation, shortening many procedures, and contributing to achieving rapid and prompt justice.
In the context, Al Naqbi indicated the ministry’s intention to organise virtual workshops for lawyers and customers to introduce the initiative, and expand the scope of benefiting from the digital services provided by the Ministry of Justice, adding that the ministry has published guidelines via the website, explaining how to use the virtual digital minutes of the sessions, a section of which was allocated for lawyers and litigants, while the other section is dedicated to court specialists, including judges and case managers within the user guide for the smart justice system.
The initiative seeks to complete and resolve cases in the shortest time and as quickly as possible, and to give the parties the opportunity and sufficient time to write their requests and respond to them, under the supervision of specialists, whether the case manager or the competent judge.
It is after developing the updated version of the smart justice system, developing a case management system, relying on instant digital conversation, and enabling parties to submit their defences and documents through the system and respond to them, so as to contribute to promoting the development of proactive services for the ministry and improving the experience of providing services to customers.
The system allows customers to write down information and submit all documents automatically under the direct supervision of the judge, to take the final decision if the case is ready and decided upon, which contributes to accelerating the achievement of justice and impartiality for the distance litigants and shortening the effort on the customers without the need to come to the courts or appear remote.
© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2021.
