ABU DHABI: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and President of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD), signed a decision establishing the Abu Dhabi Court for Family, Civil and Administrative Matters.
The Court will hear requests and claims related to personal status, civil, administrative and rental disputes, with the aim of enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of the judicial processes and ensuring the effectiveness of litigation.
Youssef Saeed Al Abri, Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, affirmed that the establishment of specialised courts strengthens the leading position of Abu Dhabi’s judiciary at the regional and global levels, providing an integrated system that allows easy access to accomplished justice through a comprehensive set of advanced services that guarantee the excellence and efficiency of an independent judicial system.
Family-related matters are a major issue in terms of privacy due to the UAE’s interest in anything that may preserve the stability of the family and ensure family cohesion in society, Al Abri said. From this point of view, the Judicial Department is keen to provide a favourable environment for this approach so as to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of litigation, he added.
The Court is made up of minor and major first instance and appeal chambers. It has also committees for the settlement of rental disputes. The chambers of the court can be further divided according to the type of cases brought before it. The Court is formed by a president and a sufficient number of judges, case managers and administrative staff to carry out the necessary administrative, clerical and technical work.
Delegation
The decision stipulated that one or more of judges shall be delegated at the seat of the Court to adjudicate on a temporary basis without prejudice to the right in urgent matters, whenever they fall within the Court’s jurisdiction. The judge shall also have the authority to issue interim orders, temporary injunctions and payment orders, whenever they are related to issues within the jurisdiction of the said Court, regardless of the value of the claim. In the event of a refusal to issue a payment order, the refusal must be justified, and the procedures laid down in the regulations of Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 regarding the Civil Procedure Law shall prevail.
The Decision specified the authorities of the minor claims judge, the Head of the Major Civil Chamber, the Head of the Personal Status Chamber, or the Head of the Rental Dispute Settlement Committees that consider the claim, as the case may be, to issue interim orders and the temporary injunctions related to them. It also determined the competence of the appeals panels to consider the appeals lodged against the judgements rendered in first instance and the objections against the orders issued by the judge of urgent matters.