The Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Justice Donika Gërvalla participated today in the official operationalization ceremony of the Administrative Court, the first specialized court in Kosovo.

In her speech, Minister Gërvalla said by making the Administrative Court operational a new rule of law mechanism was being putting in place, and went on to describe today’s day as one of the important steps in the service of a worthy, deep and powerful justice reform.

“The Administrative Court is the first specialized court in our country, which will handle administrative conflict cases and public sector labor disputes. As a result public members, public officials and institutions will have a clear and a more professional and specialized institution to address to for public administration-related issues”, said Minister Gërvalla.

She said the public administration affected by way of decisions, procedures, permits, rights, obligations and responsibilities, the lives of citizens every day, so each administrative decision must be legal, reasoned and controllable.

Additionally, the minister said the Administrative Court was starting with a huge backlog, with over 10 thousand transferred cases, adding it is both a serious challenge and an opportunity to show that a specialized court may bring more order, speed and quality to administrative justice.

“Your decisions will not only resolve individual disputes, rather they will create standards for public administration. Rather than only sitting in a file, a good decision made by this Court must serve as a guidance for public officials and as a guarantee for citizens”, declared Minister Gërvalla in her address to the judges present.

Congratulating the Kosovo Judicial Council for the steps taken in the recruitment and transfer of judges and support staff, Minister Gërvalla underlined the focus now shifted to attaining results.

“Today we have laws, we have the court and the judges, on the one hand, and citizens’ expectation on the other. What needs to be built from day one is the trust in this Court. Trust is not created by attending ceremonies, rather by making fair decisions, applying short procedures, unified practice, by professionalism and integrity”, underlined Minister Gërvalla.

Hoping that next meeting will discuss achievements of the new Administrative Court, Minister Gërvalla promised the continuous support of Ministry of Justice for the judiciary and expected the Court to yield concrete results.