Gozitan lawyers have this morning met with the Chief Executive Officer of the Court Services Agency, Eunice Grech Fiorini, together with the Assistant CEO of the Court Agency, Head Officer of Human Resources, the Chief of Staff of the Minister for Justice, and the Chief Marshall of the Court of Malta.

In a statement, the lawyers said that during this meeting at the Gozo Court it was announced that a deputy registrar has been appointed and information was also provided on measures that will be taken, including that a Marshal from Malta will be crossing to Gozo twice a week and eventually on a daily basis.

The possibility of recruiting more staff to improve the situation was also mentioned, they said.

The lawyers explained to those present “all the difficulties they are facing.” Particularly since, following the collective action taken last June, “little progress has been made, with the situation continuing to deteriorate,” they said.

The lawyers argued that they “consider that these measures do not adequately address the urgent needs of the Gozo Court and unless there is material progress through persons assigned to the Gozo Court, the lawyers will continue their collective action and not attend fixed hearings.”

The strike action was called for after lawyers said that the Gozo Court to date:

Is still without Assistant Registrar;

There is still a shortage of trained and qualified staff;

It is operating without any Marshals stationed in Gozo on a full-time basis;

Deputies are facing difficulties due to labour shortages;

The serious shortcomings in the Court’s building which were identified in separate reports by the Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Occupational Safety Authority were completely ignored;

Some of the processes are not yet being found, much less are the documents that are supposed to be inserted into it being found;

The injunctions are not being processed until the day of the hearing and the summons has not yet been entered into the process.

Transcripts are not being made on time.

Not all documents, applications, replies and notes are being processed in such a way that they do not even reach the judge and / or the parties in due time.

The documents are also not being traced on the internal system of Courts (Lecam). Nothing is being scanned.

Decrees are not being communicated to interested parties.

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