2022-09-05

West bank

position paper

The Dangers of the Duplication of References

Honorable Chairman and members of the Settlement Courts’ Monitoring Department in the Monitoring and Complaints Unit of the Land and Water Settlement Commission,

MUSAWA – The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Legal Profession and the Judiciary extends its greetings to you, and expresses that it received a complaint from the complainant ........., on 15/8/2022, stating that she submitted an objection to the Bethlehem Settlement Court, registered under No. (1295/2021) about land No. (74) of lot No. (28051), located in (Al-Marah and Al-Sidr Al-Shamali) in (Beit Jala), in her personal capacity and in addition to the estate of her late father, the owner of the aforementioned land. The objection is about the registration request submitted by her cousins ​​who claim that their legator, her uncle, owns 75% of the aforementioned land and that her father owns only 25% of the land in question.

In her written complaint to MUSAWA, the complainant added that during the review of the objection, the complainant submitted a request to the settlement court, on 06/28/2022, to obtain copies of the financial records of the land in question, requesting the court to write an official letter to the Director of the Financial Department in Bethlehem to provide her with the required documents to prepare a plea against the registration request and prove her objection in court. In addition, the settlement court’s judge replied to her request on 03/07/2022, but she was surprised that her request remained pending in the court registry for a month without implementation or execution, which hampered her acquisition of documents of legal value as proof. Accordingly, this threatens her property right and violates her right to a fair trial. She added that upon visiting the settlement court’s judge, he informed her that he issued a decision approving her request, but it is not up to him to follow up with its implementation.

Based on the complaint in question, MUSAWA addressed a written memo to the director general of the financial and administrative affairs at the high judicial council, Mr. Sharif Qawasmeh on 29/08/2022 detailing the serious violations of the guarantees to a fair trial and access to justice as will be detailed in this memo. On 31/08/2022, MUSAWA received a response from the department of financial and administrative affairs at the high judicial council stating that they have no jurisdiction over this matter and that your department (Land & Water Settlement Commission) is the competent body in this matter.  According to the response, the high judicial council is restricted to only one judge assigned to the settlement court, and anything regarding the administration of the court, including the registry, the reporting, and executive departments, and the performance of its employees falls under the purview of your department. Therefore, MUSAWA addresses this memo to you, reaffirms what has been mentioned in the memo’s introduction, and adds the following:

We see in the details of this complaint a serious violation of the guarantees of a fair trial and an infringement of the complainant’s right of access to justice. Moreover, failure to comply with the court’s decision and impeding its implementation is considered a crime according to the explicit text of the basic law in article (106), and article (82) of the judicial authority law, as they clearly state: “Judicial rulings shall be implemented. Refraining from or obstructing the implementation of a judicial ruling in any manner whatsoever shall be considered a crime carrying a penalty of imprisonment or dismissal from position if the accused individual is a public official or assigned to public service. The aggrieved party may file a case directly to the competent court and the National Authority shall guarantee a fair remedy for him.”

It is considered a breach of the job duties, which falls under the umbrella of corruption crimes according to the anti-corruption law in force, which dictates that any employee that obstructs the implementation of the judge’s decision regarding the complainant’s request, shall be held accountable.

Thus, we ask that you promptly respond to the complainant’s request and implement the judicial decision to provide her with all the documents and papers regarding the land in question and send them as fast as possible to the settlement court. This will enable her to submit them to the settlement court’s judge as proof of her right to claim her father’s ownership of the disputed land, and ensures that her objection is not dismissed for procedural or substantive reasons, due to a delay or failure to implement the aforementioned judge’s decision. The decision approves the complainant’s request and mandates the relevant bodies to provide her with the requested documents, in addition to taking all the administrative and penal actions against anyone that obstructed the implementation of the decision, and the complainant shall be duly informed of those actions. Keep us informed of the actions taken by you, and the results.

06/10/2022

Attachments:

A copy of the complaint

A copy of MUSAWA’s memo to the director general of the financial and administrative affairs at the high judicial council, Mr. Sharif Qawasmeh