60
ALRAQABA . ISSUE 15
Publications
laws, regulations, and other organizing
resolutions relevant to its subject matter. The
SAB also practices its functions in reviewing
pension accounts, allowances, insurance
expenses, social security, and other benefits
to examine its conformity with the applied
regulations and laws.
For the SAB to achieve its control functions and
protect public funds, the legislator has stated
in its article (12) the mechanism that facilitates
the control mission for the SAB, particularly
when auditing the employment affairs decisions
mentioned earlier. These entities subject to its
control are obliged to provide the SAB with the
decisions they issue with regard to recruiting
employees, users, laborers, promotions,
allowances, and other benefits with a maximum
period of 10 days of their issuance.
The SAB is to notify the entities subject to its
control about its observations regarding the
decisions mentioned above. Such notifications
must be issued before the specified time to
make these decisions non-retractable or non-
contestable. This means that it is vital that the
SAB gives its objection towards these decisions
during the assigned deadlines based on Article
(12) of the SAB Law.
The deadlines for contesting administrative
decisions were suspended by law due to the
Coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, the SAB’s
deadline to object to employment affairs
decisions was also suspended until work
was resumed.
For example, a decision was issued on
20/02/2020 to promote an employee in an
entity subject to the SAB control. The period
for contesting is 60 days from the date of
the issuance, publishing, and absolute
acknowledgment of the decision. If the Council
of Ministers’ decision is to shut down work at
public entities due to the pandemic, it is then
considered a force majeure. In this case, the
deadline in question shall be suspended by
the force of the law. Therefore, the assigned
contesting deadline for the SAB’s objection shall
be deferred and is to be resumed when the work
at public institutions is recommenced.
2.The implications of the pandemic on the
deadlines relevant to the financial violations
under the fourth section of the Law:
The conditions of the force majeure theory
are being met during the situation facing the
country amid the Coronavirus pandemic. The
Council of Ministers has issued its resolution to
suspend work in public institutions, considering
this pandemic as a force majeure being a
sudden and external incident that cannot be
anticipated or controlled.
Therefore, legally assigned deadlines,
including the deadlines mentioned within
Chapter Four of the SAB Establishment
Law, are legitimately suspended until the
crisis is over.
Subsequently, the decision
of the Council of Ministers regarding the
Coronavirus pandemic has conceived it as a
force majeure. In confirmation with the Council
of Ministers, work in all of the ministries and
public institutions and entities was shut down.
It has resulted in suspending all the procedural
deadlines, including those discussed in Chapter
Four of the SAB Establishment Law.
These suspended deadlines may not be
resumed unless a decision is issued to
recommence work in the entities mentioned
earlier. Since the Council of Ministers
has issued its resolution to resume work,
