Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said during a 'Gvern Li Jisma' event, that the number of pending cases in the civil court have reduced to below the 10,000 mark for the first time in the past ten years
Minister Owen Bonnici, along with Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Stefan Buontempo were both attending the event at Castille.
Minister Bonnici said that Justice reform and the fight against delays in court are at the forefront of people's minds. "The reform also affects quality. The EU is an examiner that looks at the work which needs to be done. In our last exam, through the justice scoreboard, we were mentioned as one of four countries which saw the biggest leaps in the EU". He mentioned that bringing
"For the first time in 10 years, the amount pending cases in the civil sector reduced to below 10,000".
The number currently stands at 9,661.
Turning to the small claims tribunal, Minister Bonnici said in 2012, 1,052 cases were pending. Today, there are 375 cases pending, he said, adding that the competence of this tribunal has been increased.
"The number of family court cases reduced from 1,338 pending cases, to 1,100, and this when the number of introduced cases in this court are on the rise".
"In the first five months of this year, the clearance rate in the civil sector has improved", he said.
As for the criminal court, the number of pending cases have reduced when compared to 2012, he said. "In the Magistrates criminal court, which hears 95% of all criminal cases, the number of pending cases reduced by 1,000 over the past three years".
He said that in the near future, there will be a strengthening of the mediation laws. "Abroad, people try and come to an agreement before going to court. Mediation was originally introduced and used in the family courts, and this has been successful. We want to extend this, but I am making clear that mediation must never be forced upon someone. We will introduce legislative incentives for mediation".
Speaking about the Citizens Rights Charter, he said that for many years, people who went to court were not seen as clients of the system, but insisted that they should. The Charter will be introduced in increments," he said adding that the aim will eventually be for every citizen to have a time-frame as to when his or her case would begin and end.
He also spoke about introducing legislation that will introduce the right for a person under arrest to have access to a lawyer.
Turning to Valletta 2018, he said that 81% of people believe Valletta is changing for the better and 82% believe V18 is improving Valletta.
Stefan Buontempo spoke about complaints received, about local councils not responding to residents within their localities.
"As the department for local government, we will set up the community voice center after Summer. This project will assure that suggestions and complaints are heard," he said.
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