A spokesman for the Justice Minister outlines initiatives to speed up processes at the law courts
The process to streamline and increase the efficiency of our law courts is a constant one and many of the initiatives taken during the current term are interlinked with those taken in the recent past, so as to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness.
Several legislative reforms were passed through Parliament or implemented since the beginning of the year. These include the reform of the executive and precautionary warrants which entailed the introduction of these new warrants and drastic amendments in other areas and the administrative tribunal which came into effect on 1st January 2009.
After that date, fresh legislation was introduced and passed through Parliament by Act XII of 2009 so as to fine tune these warrants and to introduce new procedures in our Courts of Law. Two articles were introduced under article 195 of the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure which now provide new legal remedies where cases have been pending for three years and over. Amongst these are also the judicial sales by auction which were radically changed. Apart from being publicised on the internet through the Ministry’s website, these sales by auction have been reformed so as to ensure that the sale is carried out swiftly by a public auctioneer. The judicial sale however, can now only be won if the highest offer is at least 60% of the estimated value of the property or object on sale. This new system ensures that both the debtor and the creditor get a fair deal.
The Ministry feels that the general public is still unfamiliar with most of the new procedures involved and has thus embarked on an information campaign to give more visibility to the legal instruments available to the public, so as to increase their use.
Furthermore, through these months, whilst keeping as a priority the effective implementation of the reforms outlined above, we have moved to introduce new procedures to criminal and civil law which we hope to pass through Parliament by year’s end.
Needless to say that once implemented, such amendments and reforms their effects have to be monitored so as to ensure that these are functioning properly.
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