Supreme Court puts its case register online; inability petition awaits a date

TALAS — The Supreme Court has published its register of pending cases online for the first time, giving the filing date, parties and status of every matter before the five justices.

The register, which went live on the court's website on Wednesday, listed 214 pending matters on Thursday: 96 civil and commercial appeals, 71 criminal appeals, 38 matters concerning administrative decisions and the bar, and nine constitutional references. The oldest pending appeal was filed in November 2023. Hearing lists will be posted a week before each sitting, and from 1 January advocates will be able to file papers electronically instead of at the registry counter in the Hall of Justice on Liberty Boulevard.

Among the constitutional references is In re the Elective Governor Acts (Inability of the Governor), filed in June by the lawyers Nazira Abdykadyrova and Vitaly Kuzmenko on behalf of the three Russo-aligned members of the Mejlis. The register shows the petition's status as "awaiting listing" and records the government's written answer among the papers filed. No hearing date has been set. The petition asks whether a formal declaration is required before the Lieutenant Governor exercises the Governor's powers, who may make it, and whether a Governor unable to appear may be nominated. Government counsel have argued that the questions are hypothetical and belong to the legislature.

“A list tells you where you are standing. It does not tell you when the line will move”Erik Shamshiev, Talas State University law faculty

Kanyshai Arykova, the court's chief registrar, said the register was part of a programme to move the judiciary's paperwork online that began with the district courts in 2024. "Until now, a citizen who wanted to know where a case stood had to come to the counter or send a letter," she said. "Now the answer is on a phone." She said the justices decided the order in which cases were listed and that the register would show a date as soon as one was fixed. The register is updated at the end of each working day, and sealed matters, such as cases involving children, appear only under a reference number.

Lawyers who appear before the court welcomed the change. Dilnoza Ergasheva, a commercial advocate in Talas, said clients had often waited months to learn that an appeal had not been listed. "For a company with money tied up in a dispute, knowing the queue is worth a great deal," she said.

Erik Shamshiev, who teaches procedure at the Talas State University law faculty, said the register would let the public see how long cases waited but not why. "The next step is a published rule on how cases are ordered," he said. "A list tells you where you are standing. It does not tell you when the line will move."

Neither the petitioners' counsel nor the government's counsel commented on Thursday. The court has published its sitting dates for the rest of the year, with the next list due on 19 October.

• Supreme Court
• courts
• Elective Governor Acts
• digital justice
• transparency