In 2011, Jeddah Mayoralty has filed 280 cases against individuals and several organizations, while there were 128 cases filed against the Mayor's Office, including one that resulted in a verdict obliging it to give a citizen SR700,000 in compensation, a Jeddah Mayoralty official said. The Mayor's Office was ordered to make the large payment after it gave the citizen's land to another man, said Dr. Muhammad Hasan Al-Qahtani, Assistant Mayor for Legal Affairs. The matter came to light when the original owner of the land complained; the man who was given the land had already started building on it, he added. The Board of Grievances' verdict, after assessing the land's value, obliged the Mayor's Office to pay the money, Dr. Al-Qahtani said. While there are a number of cases, a shortage of lawyers in the Mayor's Office is one reason for delays in resolving them, but 10 new posts have been approved, Dr. Al-Qahtani said in an interview published Monday in Al-Madina Arabic newspaper. The Legal Affairs department is responsible for offering legal consultations to all departments of the Mayor Office, reviewing contracts in which it is a party and pleading in courts, he said. The department also defends the assets of the Mayor's Office and proposes regulations and bylaws that can further organize the Jeddah Mayoralty's work, he added. “I seek to develop procedures and methods of the department aiming to spread the legal culture among the Mayor's Office personnel,” Dr. Al-Qahtani said. Cases against the Mayor's Office, which are related to its regulations, include those related to contracts, compensation, land expropriation and land grants by the state to citizens, he said. In court matters, the Legal Affairs department mostly deals with the Board of Grievances, Dr. Al-Qahtani said. Despite the fact that some of its decisions have been in favor of those taking legal action against the Mayor's Office, Dr. Al-Qahtani has a lot of respect for it. “It is one of the best judicial bodies in terms of achieving the goals it was established for,” he said. “Many royal decisions and regulations increasing the board's tasks and competence were aimed at developing the body that became one of the most important judicial bodies in the Kingdom. It has the competence of resolution in administrative, disciplinary and penal cases. We and the judges at the board are partners in terms of seeking justice and we respect all verdicts they issue.” Dr. Al-Qahtani believes judges at the Board of Grievances may be annoyed by Jeddah Mayoralty's lawyers and legal consultants not showing up at some hearings, but he said it is the result of a personnel shortage. “The lawyers are sometimes overloaded with cases, but this will change as the mayor has given instructions to expand the legal staff with experienced employees,” he said. There are eight lawyers to represent the Mayor's Office in courts, but soon there will be 18, he added.
