KUWAIT: Citizens and others are entitled to having easy and hassle-free access to legal services offered by the Ministry of Justice, Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs Yaqoub Al-Sane said yesterday. He made his statement while attending the opening of a new center for offering such legal services, as part of the ministry's plan to place such centers within easy reach of the public.

He explained in a press statement that the public can go to a legal services center to carry out any legal undertaking, whether it has to do with civil law or criminal law, such as authenticating signatures on documents or endorsing real estate contracts.

In a related matter, the minister announced the start of a system whereby many aspects of litigation could now be done online through the ministry of Justice website, further easing communication between litigants and personnel and departments of the ministry. He hailed this as a great service to the public.

E-government

Separately, the Central apparatus for Information Technology has affirmed effectiveness of the e-government network as to speeding up transactions as well as safeguarding data and information. The applied program had been worked out by a group of elite IT experts, indicating that it was being expanded to various departments, without any fees, Majeda Al-Naqeeb, the deputy director general of the national enterprise at the apparatus, said in a statement yesterday. Up to 54 state departments have been included in the network with the new applications, she said, noting that the operations were within the government KNN IT network. - KUNA