Jeddah is leading other Saudi cities in the move to enter into a partnership with the private sector to subpoena opponents in lawsuits in courts, following in the footsteps of Amman and Dubai, the only two other Arab cities to apply the system.

Muhammad Al-Issa, minister of justice, recently launched in the General Court of Jeddah the project to notify opponents of lawsuits to attend courts via operators in the private sector.

The minister said the project will speed up the litigation process.

President of Jeddah General Court Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Husaini revealed some details of the project, saying it will constitute a quantum leap for the judiciary which will come in line with the King Abdullah Project on the Development of the Judiciary.

“The project will speed up the litigation process and it is expected that problems linked with notifying opponents in lawsuits will decrease significantly,” said Sheikh Al-Husaini.

He said the partnership with firms in the private sector will increase the speed of the notifiation process by 70 percent, adding: “It will not take more than five days to notify the two sides of a lawsuit, according to the capabilities of the two operators that will handle the service.”

The project will assign to the private sector a number of tasks including the notifying process, subpoena for the defendant to swear before the court in person and report a ruling in absentia among other tasks that Al-Husaini described as important for the court.

He said the project stems from the minister’s keenness to introduce new ideas and develop the judiciary system to keep abreast of the latest developments and the new concept of the electronic court, adding that the project had been studied for up to eight months before it was approved.