Qatar- SJC removes several court experts

By Mobin Pandit and Mohamed Osman

DOHA: The Supreme Judicial Council has removed several court experts from their jobs and wants legal action against them for alleged dereliction of duty.

Some of these experts have been referred to the Public Prosecution so the latter could question them and see if any legal action can be taken.

Legal sources tell this newspaper that these experts have actually been suspected of either ignoring their work or siding with parties to a court litigation in violation of rules and code of ethics. The Supreme Judicial Council has a committee within it which selects and ropes in experts specialising in different areas so their help can be sought by a court to decide a case of highly technical nature.

For example experts with specialisation in the field of medicine or finance or civil or chemical engineering are roped in and when there is a case in a court involving any of these specialisations the court can seek help from one or several experts to give its verdict in a fair manner.

An extensive list of the experts is with the committee concerned in the Supreme Judicial Council and the courts are free to access the list and seek help from any of these experts in deciding a litigation.

Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported last week that the Supreme Judicial Council has recently removed several court experts from the list and referred them to the Public Prosecution for questioning for alleged wrongdoing or dereliction of duty.

In some cases court experts not doing their job seriously led a court concerned to make undue delays in deciding a litigation. Roped in by a court an expert or several of them are asked by the judge or panel of judges to file a report on the technicalities of a court case based on which the judge or judges decide the case.

Contacted for comment on the issue prominent lawyer Yusuf Al Zaman told this newspaper that a court expert plays such a key role in deciding a court litigation that he actually acts like a judge.

“An expert selected by a court to help in resolving a dispute must act honestly and just like a judge” said Al Zaman.

However if an expert fails to do his job seriously or he shows bias and a party to a dispute being decided by the court feels affected he has the right to complain.

Such complaints are filed with the Supreme Judicial Council and the Council can refer the cases to the Public Prosecution for investigation Al Zaman added.

The Peninsula