A meeting with the participation of the Chairman of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Kniaziev, the Acting Chairman of the HCJ Viktor Hryshchuk, members of the Council Oksana Blazhivska, Inna Plakhtii, Vitalii Salikhov, temporary acting Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine Oleksii Salnikov was held by the initiative of the High Council of Justice.
The Chairman of the Supreme Court informed about the discussion on the level of the relevant parliamentary committee of various options of restoration of disciplinary functions that were carried out by the High Council of Justice. The most acceptable, according to members of the Council, is the establishment of a disciplinary chamber consisting of current HCJ members with the possibility of appealing the decisions made to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. This issue will be discussed additionally during the preparation of legislative changes. HCJ members emphasized that the transfer of disciplinary function to any other body is unacceptable.
During a working meeting, a considerable attention was paid to the issue on secondment of judges.
Vsevolod Kniaziev told that on the website of the Supreme Court has been published an announcement on the beginning of the procedure for secondment judges to local courts located in the territories where hostilities are taking place, the territorial jurisdiction of which has been changed. The receiving of applications from judges has begun. Also, an indicative list of courts to which judges are planned to be seconded has been formed. HCJ members noted that priority should be given to courts in which judges have excessive workload. Participants of the meeting agreed to discuss the secondment of judges during further meetings in order to apply transparent and clear criteria.
Temporary acting Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine Oleksii Salnikov talked about the financial provision of the activity of courts. According to him, there are issues with the payment of salaries, the implementation of current expenditures for energy and utilities. He noted that there is a significant decrease in revenues to the special fund of the State budget from the payment of court fees, where, inter alia, funds for salaries come from. Oleksii Salnikov also reminded that currently, due to the military aggression of russia, expenses were reduced by almost 1.5 billion UAH of the general fund of the budget program 0501020 “Administration of justice by local, appellate courts and functioning of bodies and institutions of justice”, development expenditures were reduced by 541 million UAH. There is no financial support for surcharges for employees of the Court Security Service who have a military order.
During the meeting, the aspects of the interaction between the High Council of Justice and the Supreme Court during the preparation of decisions on response to interference in the professional activity of judges were discussed.
The cooperation in solving urgent for the justice bodies issues continues.