As part of efforts to improve the execution of court verdicts, the Ministry of Justice has appointed 21 bailiffs for the first time under a pilot plan to set up private bailiff offices in Ho Chi Minh City by 2012.
The bailiffs, selected from about 90 candidates from various agencies, are aged between 30 and 58 and include 14 lawyers from the HCMC Bar and seven former police officers and court officers and court executors.
To be appointed bailiffs, lawyers must withdraw from the bar while other officials have to quit their jobs, the ministry said.
The duties of a bailiff include executing writs and other court orders and preparing legal records at the request of individuals, organizations, and official agencies.
Initially five bailiff’s offices will be set up in Districts 1, 5, and 8, Binh Thanh, and Tan Binh.
The HCM City Department of Justice will announce procedures for their establishment soon.
Speaking at a ceremony February 10 to hand the new bailiffs their appointment orders, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Duc Chinh said once the bailiff’s offices open, citizens can choose between them and public agencies to get civil verdicts executed.
Every year courts in the city require confirmation of information in 50,000 cases and serve around 1.4 million writs and other documents, 600,000 of them in civil cases.
When bailiff’s offices are set up, it will help ease the courts’ paperwork burden, contributing to improving the efficiency of the city's judiciary, the Ministry of Justice said.
