
The High Council of Justice addressed the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy Andrii Kostin, People’s Deputy Serhii Demchenko and called to support draft laws aimed at resolving the issue of restoring the powers of judges who do not administer justice due to the expiration of the term for which they were appointed (No. 5889, No. 4505).
As it known, on November 7, 2019, the powers of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine were terminated ahead of schedule and its new composition has not yet been appointed. Procedures for the selection and qualification assessment of hundreds of judges, including those who do not have the power to administer justice due to the expiration of a five-year term of appointment, and who have exercised their right to be appointed to the position of a judge for permanent terms by submitting a relevant application to the HQCJU on conducting qualification assessment, have been suspended at various stages.
The HCJ notes that even the formation of a new composition of the HQCJU on a competitive basis (which is problematic under the current conditions) will not allow promptly solving the problem of appointing judges, overcoming staff shortages and excessive workload in the existing courts. Since, after several years of actual inactivity of this body and in the conditions of the outflow of the most professional judicial staff, the range of issues that need to be promptly resolved by the newly formed composition of the HQCJU is too large.
Given these circumstances, legislators propose to establish that by the day of formation of the plenipotentiary composition of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the High Council of Justice, without recommendation of the HQCJU shall decide on the issue of forwarding submission to the President of Ukraine on appointment of judges whose five-year term powers for holding position of a judge for permanent terms have ended.
The HCJ supports this initiative. After all, the situation in which, for a long time, judges who have submitted an application for qualification assessment and are deprived of opportunity to pass the relevant procedure within the time limits established by law and be appointed to office for permanent terms, is discriminatory and violates constitutional and international standards guaranteeing judicial independence and non-discrimination in resolving the matter of judicial career.
According to the HCJ members, this approach deserves support as an exceptional one-time measure, since it eliminates discrimination in the judicial career of those judges who are deprived of the opportunity to pass a qualification assessment due to the long-term lack of authority of the HQCJU, and will partially solve the problem of an acute staff shortage in courts. At the same time, the HCJ notes that such an approach cannot be applied to judges in respect of whom a submission on temporary suspension from the administration of justice with further qualification assessment has been made. The procedure for appointing judges, to whom a disciplinary sanction has been applied, provided for in paragraph 4 of the first part of Article 109 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” should remain unchanged.
Approval of such norms will make it possible to prevent a personnel collapse in the justice system, which negatively affects the realization of the right of citizens of Ukraine to apply to court.
It should be reminded that the members of the HCJ called for the immediate resumption of the Council’s plenipotentiary composition. They appealed to the subjects of the HCJ formation and called on the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Congress of Judges of Ukraine, the Congress of Lawyers of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Conference of Prosecutors, the Congress of Representatives of Higher Education and Scientific Institutions to take all necessary measures to fill vacancies according to the quota of each of them. The plenipotentiary composition of the Council will allow resuming the implementation of the constitutional functions of the judicial governance body.