Georgian Dream has registered a draft law in Parliament regarding common courts. According to the proposed changes, the powers and responsibilities of the High Council of Justice will be expanded.
Key points of the draft bill:
- Removal of Supreme Court Plenary Guarantees: The provision requiring the Supreme Court Plenary to “protect and strengthen the institutional independence of one of the branches of state power—the judiciary, ensure the independence of judges, and within its competence, promote public trust and confidence in the judiciary” [current law, Article 18, Paragraph 3] will be abolished. According to the explanatory note of the draft, the High Council of Justice will become the guarantor of institutional and individual judicial independence and efficiency.
- Specializations in Appellate Courts: The High Council of Justice will determine the narrow specializations of judges even in appellate courts. Previously, the Council only created panels for specialized positions in city and/or district courts.
- Discretionary Assignment of Cases: The High Council of Justice will have the discretionary power to assign judges to cases outside their specialization without using the electronic system. This allows the Council to replace a judge who, due to various objective circumstances (temporary incapacity, leave, business trips, etc.), cannot perform judicial duties. The rationale cited is the high volume of cases and insufficient number of judges.
- Deputy Chairmen in Appellate and Large Courts: Appellate courts and large district/city courts (defined as courts with at least 30 judges) will have two deputies instead of one. The High Council of Justice will appoint one of them as the first deputy.
- Removal of Certain Supervisory Duties:
- The current law requiring appellate court chairmen to “ensure the generalization of judicial practice, citizen applications, complaints, and suggestions and submit generalized materials to the High Council of Justice” [Article 25, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph g] will be removed.
- The provision requiring district/city court chairmen to organize court operations [Article 32, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph d] will also be abolished. The explanatory note clarifies that the High Council of Justice already has access to these matters through the electronic case management system and other information sources.
- Supreme Court Judge Elections: Votes for Supreme Court candidates will be held in closed sessions of the High Council of Justice. The explanatory note cites this measure as preventing “any possible influence on Council members (from external forces or internal corporate pressures).” Consequently, the Council will no longer publish candidate assessments or justifications for these evaluations.
- Parliamentary Approval Procedure: If Parliament fails to elect a candidate proposed by the Council, the Council may resubmit the same candidate or restart the selection process from scratch.
- Other Changes: The draft law also includes additional changes regarding the selection of Supreme Court judges, additional allowances for judges on secondment, the Conference of Common Courts, and the High School of Justice. Full details are in the explanatory note of the draft bill.
Authors and initiators of the draft bill: Members of Parliament from Georgian Dream: Archil Gorduladze, Tornike Cheishvili, Alexander Tabatadze, David Matikashvili, Rati Ionatamishvili, Aluda Ghudushauri, Tengiz Sharmanashvili, Guram Macharashvili, and Akaki Aladashvili.