In this article, we intend to examine the duties and components of the Administrative Court of Justice in Iran. Moreover, we are going to discuss the legal and procedural system, and last, we will discuss the scope of competency of the court.

Briefed history of the Administrative Justice Court in Iran

For many years, governments were not accountable for their practices toward their citizens. For this reason, even if the citizens were affected by the actions of the governments or government employees, the latter would not feel compelled to compensate. However, contemporarily, this attitude is not acceptable.

Correspondingly, according to principle No.173 of Iran's Constitution Law, a special authority to hear citizens' objections has been established by the government called the "Court of Administrative Justice"(The "Court") as one of the subsidiaries of the judiciary. Under Article 10 of the Law on the Court of Administrative Justice, the jurisdiction and limits on the power of the Court of Administrative Justice have been determined.

Duties of the Court of Administrative Justice under Iranian law

1- Review of protests against decisions or actions of government and/or government officials

According to Article 10 of the Law on the Court of Administrative Justice (The "Law"), The Court has the jurisdiction to hear the claims of individuals and private entities against governmental public organs such as ministries and public organizations, and institutions and municipalities, social security organization.

In addition, the decisions and actions of the officers or employees of these units in matters related to their duties are also within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court of Justice.

2- Review objections against the opinions of special commissions

Pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 10 of the Law, the duties of the Administrative Justice Court include reviewing objections and complaints regarding final decisions of administrative Boards such as tax dispute resolution, worker-employer dispute resolution boards, commissions subject to Article (100) of the law of municipalities.

3- Jurisdiction over governmental employee's complaints

In addition to the duties mentioned above, the Court of Administrative Justice is a general authority for hearing cases in connection to employment complaints against the government.

The Administrative Justice Court is in charge of hearing the complaints of employees covered by the Civil Service Management Law and other employees of the units and institutions mentioned in paragraph 1 of Article 10 regarding their employment rights.

4- Jurisdiction over objections to regulations ratified by the government

Pursuant to Article 12 of the Administrative Justice Court Law, the Court of Administrative Justice has jurisdiction to hear complaints from the private sector regarding the regulations adopted by the government.

In other words, If provisions of governmental and municipal regulation are contrary to Sharia or the law, or they are an abuse of power, violations in the implementation of laws and regulations, or refusal to perform duties that violate the rights of individuals individual and legal entities can refer these cases to the Court.

5- Issuance of uniform judicial precedent

Suppose administrative courts and tribunals issue conflicting verdicts on a particular matter. In that case, the Court's general assembly is entitled to issue a uniform judicial precedent binding for all inferior courts.

Internal procedures of the court

There are currently 56 branches of the court of the first instance, 23 appellate, and six enforcement branches in the Court of Administrative Justice. Each of the first-instance branches of the court has specialized according to the types of administrative lawsuits that can be filed within.

The verdicts issued by the courts of the first instance can be appealed before the appeal court. One of the parties or their lawyer or legal representative can file an appeal against all the decisions of the components of the Court within 20 days from the notification. This deadline for persons residing outside Iran is two months from the date of notification.

Enforcement of judgments of the Court

According to Article 49 of the Law, the court's final decisions shall be immediately enforced by the governmental organs subject to the verdict. The branches of the Administrative Court of Justice, following the notification of the verdict to the losing party, submit a copy of it to the relevant department of the Enforcement of Judgments, together with the case file.

The convicted person is obliged to fully implement the Court of Administrative Justice's decision or obtain the plaintiff's consent within one month and report the result in writing to the Judgment Enforcement Unit of the Court.

The government's public organs that are not under the jurisdiction of the Court of Administrative Justice

According to the Law on Judicial Decisions of the Judiciary; decisions of the Head of the Judiciary, approvals, and decisions of the Guardian Council, the Expediency Council, the Assembly of Experts, and the Supreme National Security Council are not within the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court of Justice.

Also, according to the resolution of the 680th session of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which is admitted to have the value of law, objecting to the decisions of the disciplinary and student commissions of the universities, the Ministry of Science, and the Ministry of Health and the Islamic Azad University is out of the jurisdiction of the Court of Administrative Justice.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.