Supreme Court of Georgia

The Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia Introduced Legislative Initiatives to Journalists

Published: 09/06/2013

On September 6, 2013, the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia Mr. Konstantin Kublasvili informed the journalists about working directions priorities for the Judiciary and legislative initiatives prepared by the High Council of Justice.

For the continuation and the improvement of the judicial reform, Georgian Judiciary elaborated three main directions that will be a priority for our Judiciary. These are:

• strengthening the independence of the judiciary;

• improving the quality of judicial decisions;

• improving the court administrative/managerial system.

Georgian Judiciary will actively cooperate with the legislative and executive authorities concerning the abovementioned priorities. In accordance with these priorities 5 legislative amendments to the Act already have been prepared. 

1. To ensure a timely start of the procedures for the lifetime appointment of judges. 

One of the important issues that are related to cooperation with the legislative authority is to ensure a timely start of the procedure of the lifetime appointment of judges. The High Council of Justice prepared legislative amendment that implies to bring into the compliance the Organic Law on General Courts of Georgia with the Constitution of Georgia, after the presidential election in October 2013. The record already exists in the Constitution, according to which, after the presidential election the system of lifetime appointment for judges should be set in motion. Legislative initiative that was elaborated by the High Council of Justice will promote to launch these procedures in a timely manner.

2. To improve the social guarantees for Judges.

The second legislative proposal is related to the growth of social guarantees for judges. According to the amendment, the first instance judges salary should be increased up to 4,000 GEL.

3. Enactment of the new model of Judges Pension System.

4. Improvement of the disciplinary proceedings.

According to the legislative package submitted by the government, the disciplinary proceedings against judges should be initiated solely on the basis of the violation of judicial ethics.

5. Increasing duration of study course of the High School Justice.

According to the legislative proposal, for the better preparation of the judge candidates, the duration of study courses at the High School of Justice should be increased from 10 months to 15 months.
The members of the High Council of Justice will discuss these legislative initiatives next week.