Today in Nis, Nela Kuburovic - the Justice Minister – spoke to the representatives of the Basic Court, High Court, Appellate Court, Misdemeanour Court and the Court of Commerce in Nis, also visiting offices of public notaries. In speaking to the courts’ representatives, Kuburovic emphasised that the promotion of the efficiency of the judiciary, by way of shortening the duration of court proceedings and reducing the back-log of cases, and the strengthening of judicial professions, were amongst the Ministry of Justice’s priorities in the upcoming period.
Kuburovic stated that the Basic Court and the Court of Commerce in Nis were amongst the best courts finalising old cases. This was evident in the award they had recently received at the Annual Judges’ Conference in Vrnjacka Banja.
Kuburovic noted that the Appellate Court in Nis, being very aware of the back-log, was prioritising old cases. “The President assured us that the number of old cases pending would be reduced by 30% by the end of the year”, she said.
She explained that, in addition to the unique plan for finalising old cases presented by the Supreme Court of Cassation, in accordance with which all courts had to present their plans, controls by the presidents of the appellate courts were in place. This way – she added – the courts would have to report on all the cases which were over four years old.
Kuburovic stated that, after two years, the public notarial profession and practice had been operating as planned and that no major issues in the work of public notaries had been identified. “The performances by public notaries are unified across the territory of the entire Republic. More importantly, results have been made and the Public Notary Chamber of Serbia has been well organised – evident in the fact that it would be admitted into the International Union of Notaries tomorrow at the International Congress of Notaries in Paris“, stated Kuburovic.
Minister Kuburovic noted that, in the upcoming period, the Ministry of Justice would be dedicated to the enhancement of the public notaries’ performances and, primarily, their accountability.
Kuburovic added that the Ministry of Justice and Public Notary Chamber Disciplinary Committee was working hard and appropriately sanctioning all performance shortcomings and inconsistencies, by even imposing work ban measures. “I have to admit that we have not handled many of such cases in the last two years and that only two notaries have been relieved of duty”, she stated.
Kuburovic noted that in May of the current year, public notaries had begun handling inheritance disputes, with the Basic Court in Nis – as an example - having assigned around 1,500 inheritance cases to public notaries.