Dubai: Dubai Courts Department is providing over a 100 smart services to provide integrated legal services to achieve customer satisfaction and community welfare, a senior official said.
As of January 15, 2015, the DCD has been launching round-the-clock smart services to ensure customer satisfaction for litigating parties, Tarish Eid Al Mansouri, Director-General of the DCD, told Gulf News. “So far, we provided our clients with more than 110 smart services on the process of executing court orders and judges’ decisions. Now it has become easier for litigants to open a file to execute rulings and orders before dedicated judges of urgent matters [known as execution judges or judges who ensure that rulings/orders are executed] through their smartphones,” he said.
The services enable applicants [or petitioners who lodge their requests through smartphones] to receive an SMS or email notification updating them on the progress of their requests, he elaborated.
More than 13,500 requests were placed between January 15 and May this year, Al Mansouri said, stressing that the smart services enable customers to upload scanned documents and attach them to the smart requests, allowing judges to review them.
“The client will have an update on progress of his application and when he or she can walk directly to the concerned employee at the counter. The employee double-checks the request to ensure that all required documents are attached properly. Usually, all requests are examined by an administrator or the request is referred to a judge to look into it,” he added.
Some requests require immediate billing that could be paid via credit card, he said, adding that smart requests don’t take more than five working days.
“Every client is granted access to the DCD’s smart services system through a username and a password. Sometimes, clients face delays because judges have to review other files or look into requests connected to other lawsuits. This system enables the DCD management to follow up on the processing procedures … for example, sometimes we need to transfer requests from one judge to another in case the presiding judge is on leave. Every presiding judge receives an SMS or notification, on mobile phone or email, a pin-number enabling the judge to sign the decision or order electronically. This feature enables swift and secure action,” said Al Mansouri.
In terms of client satisfaction, Al Mansouri said a recent survey found more than 82 per cent were satisfied with smart services. “However, some pointed out concerns over the capacity and delays while uploading attachments. We are tackling this issue as we want to ensure that smart services become fully functional. Also, some clients aren’t fully familiar with some technicalities. For instance, we advise law firms and lawyers [the largest percentage of DCD’s client base] to acquaint and familiarise themselves with smart services,” he added.
Responding to lawyers’ concerns, especially delays in execution orders, he said: “We have already started addressing these concerns and issues with the concerned government departments such as the Roads and Transport Authority [RTA], Lands Department, Dubai Police and others. New steps and measures have been put into action. We have discussed those issues with the departments and everything is being put in order … for instance communicating with the Lands Department concerning provisional seizures on properties and communicating with RTA concerning seizure of cars and communicating with the police regarding travel bans or other required actions,” said Al Mansouri.
However, he said, most banks, including the Central Bank, do not cooperate fully with the department. “This is a big problem and brings major hassles. We contact banks to check whether a litigant has a bank account, but they refuse to inform us. We do not wish to know how much money the client has in the account or to get a copy of the account statement … we just need to know whether that person has an account. Most banks do not cooperate with us in that regard. At many instances we were forced to send many official letters to inquire if some persons have accounts. We wish we could have more cooperation from banks and why not reach an appropriate strategy or system with the Central Bank to assist us in that regard? After all such inquiries are being based on judge’s orders and for certain legal procedures,” he said.
When asked to compare DCD and other departments in terms of adopting and implementing the smart services’ initiative and where the Courts Department ranks, Al Mansouri said: “I’ve been leading this ship for nearly one year now … I believe it’s somewhere between fair and good. This is a legal department and most of our services pertain to legal procedures. It is true that we render services, but let us not forget that we render legal services unlike other departments that render mostly vital and public services or administrative services. Meanwhile, the majority of DCD’s smart services are rendered to litigating parties or parties involved in legal actions and procedures. This impacts the way in which our services are assessed and perceived.”
