Topics discussed by the HCoJ in December

Main findings

• High Council of Justice made all decision unanimously, without any dissenting opinion/question, despite the fact that the HCoJ was working with the full composition (15 members);
• Information on the planned sessions were published with the violation of the organic law – either a day earlier, or on the day of the session, instead of 3-day prior notice. 

14th of December 2023

Initially, the meeting was announced to be held on 16th of November, however, after postponing, was held on 14th of December. 
Discussing the topics took 14 minutes total during the session.

All the members of the High Council of Justice attended the meeting. 

Agenda:

1. Letter from the Head of LEPL Department of Common Courts; 
2. Letter from the Head of Rustavi city court. 
3. On the authority of certain judges;
4. On the secondment of certain judges; 
5. On the amendments to certain normative acts; 
6. On defining composition of chambers/collegiums in some regional (city)/appellate courts;
7. Organizational topics.

Main topics/decision discussed during the session:

• The first topic of the agenda was related to the monetary reward. According to the letter from the Head of LEPL Department of Common Courts, department has planned to allocate monetary rewards for its employees, however implementation is impossible with the current budget. Therefore, changes to 2023 budget of the common courts were requested. According to the change, salaries decrease by 169 thousand Gel and the salaries for the Department of Common Courts increase by 147thousand Gel.
• The second topic was on the letter from the Head of Rustavi city court, requesting changes to the staff list. According to the change, the Head requested adding 1 assistant to the judge and 1 session secretary to the list. In the letter, he explained the need for the change. According to the letter, adding the positions mentioned was necessary for the uninterrupted operation of the court. 
  Decision to make corresponding changes to the list was taken by all HCoJ members unanimously.
• The third topic covered release of Tamar Chuniashvili, the judge at Tbilisi Court of Appeals, from the position. Tamar Chuniashvili reached retirement age on 2nd of December, and therefore, was released from her duties. It is important to say, that despite the formal nature of the decision (the High Council would not be able to decide otherwise, as the retirement age is the ground to release), the HCoJ made decision on the release of Tamar Chuniashvili almost two weeks after reaching the retirement age.
• Within the frameworks of the third topic, the HCoJ also reviewed a draft decree on the dismissal of Nino Giorgadze from the judicial power due to expiration of the 3-year probation term. The High Council of Justice did not appoint Nino Giorgadze for life.
• The fourth topic was related to the secondment of a judge to a district court, as there is not even one judge exercising power in Tsageri and from time to time, a judge from another court is sent on a secondment there. At this point, the proposition was made to Kutaisi city court judges. Ketevan Tkhelidze, Kutaisi city court judge agreed to the secondment. Accordingly, starting from 15th of December including 2023, she will exercise her judicial power in Tsageri district court. Along with Tsageri city court, she will also continue exercising her judicial duties in Kutaisi city court.
• The fifth topic was removed from the agenda by the initiative of the HCoJ serterary without explanation.
• The sixth topic covered the letter from Nata Tedeishvili, Rustavi city court judge, requesting to be transferred from the civil chamber to the administrative chamber of Rustavi city court. In the letter, the head of Rustavi city court also specifies that transferring Nata Tedeishvili to administrative chamber is necessary for the uninterrupted administration of justice, as currently there is only one judge on duty in the mentioned chamber. Additionally, as indicated in the letter, Nata Tedeishvili has 10 years of experience in reviewing administrative cases and she herself also wishes to proceed exercising her duties in the administrative chamber.
• The High Council of Justice unanimously assigned Nata Tedeishvili in the administrative chamber of Rustavi city court starting from 15th of December 2023.
• The seventh topic of the agenda was on defining salary supplement to the judges of General Courts. According to the decree of the HCoJ, the judges of General Courts (except Supreme Court of Georgia), along with the monthly supplement, will receive additional supplement in the amount of 100% of their salaries December. 

22nd of December 2023

Discussing the topics took 46 minutes total during the session.
All the members of the High Council of Justice attended the meeting. 

Agenda:
1. Information on the important documents and activities conducted by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) and Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE); 
2. On the secondment of some judges; 
3. On the amendments to some normative acts; 
4. On defining composition of chambers/collegiums in some regional (city)/appellate courts;  
5. Organizational topics.

Main topics/decision discussed during the session:

• The first topic on the agenda on the documents adopted and activities conducted by European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice and Consultative Council of European Judges. Ketevan Tsintsadze the HCoJ judge is representing Georgia in both the Commission and the Council. She presented information on CCJE and CEPEJ, on the documents adopted by them and main directions of their activities.

Ketevan Tsintsadze talked about CCJE:

• What decision and Consultative Council makes;
• Explained how information is sent to the Council; 
• Talked about the opinion of the Council on introducing technologies and in what shape they can be introduced in the court. She also presented relevant documents to the HCoJ;
• Highlighted the right to personal data protection;
• Mentioned the initiative of translating and publishing the decision on introducing technologies within judiciary after making it public and publishing it on the website;
• Highlighted the aspects important for the accountability. 

Ketevan Tsintsadze also talked about CEPEJ and mentioned that the Comission is divided into following groups: 

• Time management Group – a.k.a. Saturn Group, working to solve the overloading issues;
• Group on Quality of Justice – working on improving level of accessibility and quality;
• Group on Cyberjustice – working on the guidelines on AI development;
• Group on Evaluation of Judicial systems – working on evaluating judicial systems of the member states; 

Ketevan Tsintsadze explained that Georgian representative annually submits information to CEPEJ. Information consists of 350 questions and, along with judicial system, covers the Prosecutor’s office, legal Aid Service, penitentiary, etc.  Submitted information is about 150-200 pages. She also mentioned that information also focuses on the statistic data. As she explained, instant statistics is also presented to CEPEG. Information on ongoing and completed cases, according to the fields and categories are also processed. Presentation of 2023 information to CEPEJ is planned for February. 

As stated by her, CEPEJ representatives visited Georgia in 2023 and holding fruitful meeting with them. Ketevan Tsintsadze also focused on other topics:

• Review ratio (comparison ratio between incoming and reviewed cases) compared to 2018 has increased, meaning that more cases are reviewed now.
• She also highlighted court overloading issue and mentioned that the courts, as well as the Council, can benefit from the documents such as Guideline on Reducing Overloading, which describes what stages the court may need to undergo to manage this [overloading] process and reduce case flow;
• There are also guidelines for time management and rational use of time;
• CEPEJ has developed several documents related to the time management, including Time Management Check List. Ketevan Tsintsadze also voiced an initiative to translate and introduce CEPEJ time management and case flow management documentation in Georgia.

Other topics:

• The second topic on the agenda was on the secondment of some judges. The High Council of Justice decided to extend secondment term in Batumi for Ekaterine Kululashvili and defined the amount of secondment supplement as 1000 Gel. Roin Kakhidze, judge at Batumi city court was again assigned (with his consent) to Ambrolauri district court. The term was defined as 1 year, and the supplement as 500 Gel. He will also exercise the authority of the chairman of the Ambrolauri district court until December 2025. Secondment to Gali-Gulrifsha-Ochamchire was extended for 1 year for Ekaterine Bebia and she will additionally receive 400 Gel.
• The third, fourth and fifth topics were removed from the agenda without justification. 

22nd of December 2023

Discussing the topics took 16 minutes total during the session.
All the members of the High Council of Justice attended the meeting. 

Agenda: 

1. Letter from the Chairperson of the General Courts Department;
2. Draft decree – “on the approval of the structure, staff list and salaries of court officials the Appellate Courts of Tbilisi and Kutaisi, and district (city) courts”;
3. On defining composition of chambers/collegiums in some regional (city)/appellate courts;
4. Organizational topics.

Main topics/decision discussed during the session:

The HCoJ reviewed 4 letters within the first topic.

• First letter was from the chairman of Rustavi City Court, in particular, about the takeover of the land plot adjacent to the court. The letter also contained justification of the need for the mentioned land plot. After the takeover of the plot by the court, car parking will be organized on the territoty. The land is owned by the Legal aid service, court manager communicated with the service manager. A letter of consent to hand over the plot was enclosed to the letter. 
  In case of positive decision of the HCoJ, the General Courts, the department will carry out all measures necessary for the transfer of the plot of land free of charge for life. The High Council of justice unanimously consented to the transfer of a land plot to the court.
• Second letter – Georgian Government made an exception by the decree of 2023 and the number of employees of under the labor contract in the General Courts system was determined by 328 units, in order to fulfil additional tasks. this number does not change with the draft decree, however in needs to be agreed upon again in 2024. According to the letter, the Department asked the Council to mediate with the government to maintain number of additional staff to 328. HCoJ members unanimously consented to approve the decree.
• Third letter – covered identical topic. Georgian Government made an exception by the decree of 2023 and the number of employees of under the labor contract in the Department of General Courts was determined by 328 units, in order to fulfil additional tasks. As explained by the Department representative, it is necessary to continue cooperation with the staff members they cooperated in 2023 with. According to the letter, the Department asked the Council to mediate with the government to maintain number of additional staff to 28. HCoJ members unanimously consented to approve the decree.
• Fourth letter – contained the staff list and corrected salary fund for the general Courts, determining basic salary (1330 Gel) and the product on the salary coefficient on remuneration of labor in a public institution provided by the Law of Georgia (10%).

The second topic on the agenda was also regarding the change of basic salary. The draft decree envisages increase of the salary for Tbilisi and Kutaisi appellate courts’ and district (city) courts’ staff by 10%. Draft decree was unanimously approved. 

The third topic was removed from the agenda, reason was not voiced. 

Increase of the salary for the judges of Tbilisi and Kutaisi appellate courts and district (city) courts by 10% was discussed within the frames of the fourth topic. Draft decree was unanimously approved.

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