'Today is a historic day for the justice system'

Dubai: Building a judicial complex, introducing women to the judicial cadres and forming specialised courts in Dubai marks a historic day for the judicial system.

"His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has instructed that we set up special courts in Dubai ... introduce women to the judicial cadres and build up a judicial complex. Today is a historical day for the justice system and this will develop the judicial industry intensely," Dr Ahmad Bin Hazim, the General Director of Dubai Courts Department, told Gulf News on Thursday.

Shaikh Mohammad's instructions came during his visit to the second Judicial Forum of Court and Public Prosecution Heads in the UAE held at Grand Hyatt on Thursday.

During the visit, Shaikh Mohammad inspected a model for the judicial complex.

He instructed the forum members [which include judges and chief prosecutors] to include national women in the judicial cadres to give them a chance to participate in all fields of work, leadership and production.

Council's role

He ordered the establishment of specialised courts to facilitate and speed up litigation processes in different cases and instructed Dubai Courts to start implementing the concept of specialised courts before applying it across the country.

He also directed the members to activate the role of the judicial coordination council which was set up by a cabinet decision last year.

"His Highness asked us to choose from among three locations which will be close to Emirates Road. The location will have to be accessible for all clients and contains the required facilities. It will contain more than four buildings for the Courts, Public Prosecution, Judicial Institute, auditorium and other facilities," Dr Bin Hazim told the newspaper.

The step to introduce women to the judicial cadres is very good and enriches the cadres and supports it as well ... men and women will jointly handle different tasks and this will be implemented very soon in Dubai, he commented.

"We already have three specialised courts; personal status matters, labour and civil courts ... the new specialised courts will be for criminal, commercial and real estate cases.

The objective of this is to make management of cases focused, faster and more professional. It aims to develop understanding and redesigning the tools implemented in each specialty. Special courts will make proper balance of sources located for each type of case and give our strategic partners the opportunity to deal with special courts," Dr Bin Hazim told Gulf News.

Dr Hadef Jua'an Al Daheri, the Justice Minister, who inaugurated the forum yesterday said: "The march of justice has started progressing to a better stage with the introduction of electronic systems to automate judicial work. Cases are being handled electronically to reach e-justice when all clients can communicate with the courts and public prosecution departments electronically."